Operation: Remnant Safekeeping
by MimicLegend
Summary: With the plights of Black Mesa behind him, Corporal Adrian Shephard finds himself thrust into the world of Remnant by request of the elusive G-Man. Here, he must make new friends and learn to adapt to this fantasy-like world as Remnant will soon learn that the White Fang and the Grimm will be the least of its worries.
1. Prologue

***Unknown Area, Time Unidentified, 17th of May, 200-***

Adrian Shephard opened his eyes, the distinct whirling of helicopter blades thumping in his head as he found himself sitting... inside? _Where the hell..._ He thought to himself. Adrian was quite bewildered on where he was, one time he was fighting some giant alien in the bowels of the Black Mesa facility after fighting creatures of all kinds and even other Special Forces units, the Black Ops to be specific, to then be inside a... helicopter? Was he being evacuated? There was no chance, there couldn't be, from what he had discovered during his time in Black Mesa, the HECU had retreated from the facility to order a bombing run despite some personnel still inside. Did they come back for the survivors? _Unlikely, very unlikely._ He thought. When they sent in Black Operations to silence both scientists and HECU, Adrian knew that there would be no one left to help them out of the hell that is Black Mesa. _Well, no point in thinking, I should check where I am._ He lifted his head to see where he was, and it was kind of a strange sight, yet quite the sight indeed. From what he could see in the background they were flying in a V-22 Osprey with crates of supplies and weapons strewn about on the insides, flying, logically, away from Black Mesa. But the strangest thing was the man standing in front of him, he had seen him during his last days training at the boot camp, and now he could get a clear look on the man who was spying on him.

This "government man" as he decided to call him was a middle aged Caucasian man, with deathly green eyes and equally deathly skin and a crew cut, especially strange in his opinion. He adorned himself with a grey-blue suit, complete with a blood red tie and held a briefcase in his right hand, a briefcase that he always held from when he could see him before his sudden disappearances. Before Adrian could question or even say a word, he suddenly spoke in a hoarse and slow, but commanding sense of tone.

 _"So, Corporal Shephard, we meet at last. Please don't think that I've been avoiding you, a great many matters require my attention in these..."_ stopping, he took a pause, taking in the air before continuing, _"Troubled times. I do hope you understand. And now I require a further_ _ **indulgence**_ _on your part I can not close my_ _ **report**_ _until every loose end has been tied_ _ **up**_ _."_ He stopped again to take a breath but questions were racing in Adrian's mind, _Report? Loose ends? Am I talking to a Black Ops agent?! If so, I can only see myself with a gunshot to the head._ All these answers he couldn't say, as this man soon continued. _"The biggest_ _ **embarrassment**_ _has been the Black Mesa facility but I think that's finally taken care of_ _ **itself**_ _."_ Adrian could see Black Mesa in the distance, smoke rising from the facility. It was strange, we're they going to, or retreating from the facility? He then noted the agent's weird speech patterns, his pauses, weird emphasis on certain words and awkward pitch risi-

 _ **[BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!]**_

Adrian turned to the open door of the Osprey, he saw a flash of sudden whiteness erupt in the background before it revealed a shocking revelation to him, a mushroom cloud, the end result of a nuclear explosion suddenly made itself known. He could feel the air rush through his gas mask, his eyes squinting at the sight before him, his mind went into overdrive thinking of all the possibilities of how a nuclear warhead would go off so close to where he was. _Bombing? That'd be a last resort since Black Operations brought the device in, I did disarm it after all. But there was no bomber dropping a warhead so that's out of the picture. And it wouldn't be multiple warheads too, that would just eviscerate the entire valley. So that means..._

And then it all clicked, this was astounding, but not in the good sense.

 _WHAT! NO, IT CAN'T BE! I DISARMED THE NUKE, I, I KILLED THE BLACK OPS SOLDIERS GUARDING IT. I SWEAR I DISARMED IT. WHO._ _ **WHO!?**_ Adrian could only look in horror as the agent looked unfazed seeing this. The loss of all those innocent scientists and his HECU comrades, gone in a singular strike from the bowels of where Black Mesa once stood. He even felt some sorrow for the aliens still roaming the now dead facility, they had killed everyone inside for no obvious reason, or a reason he didn't know, but they were only trying to survive, in his eyes, no one was good or bad, only lingering grey emotions. The agent looked at him, a devious smile plastered on his face, before he stated _"Quite so."_ Unaffected by this event he turned his attention back to Adrian. He couldn't see it, but Adrian was seething with rage and was also afraid, visibly sweating everywhere with his mind doing loops over and over, this was incomprehensible,

 _I'll kill whoever did this, no matter what it takes... I can't let this person get away with this..._ His thoughts did not pay attention to the fact that the nuclear blast would reach the Osprey, which would kill both Adrian and the agent. But before he could even think of such a fact a sudden green glow emanated from the background complete with a crackling and zapping sound, revealing... the alien world? Adrian was confused at this point, he wasn't prepared, aliens invading a government facility intent on taking over the world? Sure, but a sudden appearance into the world he usually couldn't get to, he couldn't believe it. They were flying one time and the next they were suddenly transported, no, teleported to the alien world. He had visited it a few times when he used the Displacer Cannon, usually to pick up supplies from dead scientists who had visited the place and met their fates there too, although he did do some exploration into the nooks and crannies of the foreign world. He could see the masses of rock and the yellow crystals that stuck out of them, even seeing some native wildlife oblivious to the Osprey, those squid-like creatures to the ones with a ton of eyes, those that jumped on the heads of unfortunates and turned them into zombies, the tentacles that slammed the ground when even the slightest noise was made, the variation was immense. _"But there is still the lingering_ _ **matter**_ _of witnesses. I admit I_ _ **have**_ _a fascination with those who adapt and survive against_ _ **all**_ _odds. They rather remind me of_ _ **myself**_ _."_

Adrian snorted a bit with that compliment, he was simply doing what he could to get out alive, many people would do the same thing in reality, the brave ones at least, recounting a scientist who had cornered himself into a make-shift fortress with no intention of leaving. Was it really special? His adaptability and survivability? He didn't think so really. _"If for_ _ **no**_ _other reason, I have argued to_ _ **preserve**_ _you for a time."_

Another flash, and Adrian found himself in a strange place he never visited, orbs of white light floating in the infinite void as they passed through. This was uncharted territory, and Adrian was certain this agent was no agent at all, or even a government man, but something more terrifying than that. He decided to stop thinking about the fact to keep himself calm. The man continued with his rambling, _"While I believe a civil_ _ **servant**_ _like yourself understands the importance of..." He paused, but it was nothing but awkward, he continued, "_ _ **discretion**_ _, my employers are not quite so trusting and rather than continually subject you to the_ _ **irresistible**_ _human temptation of telling all, we have decided to..."_ Pausing again, Adrian found it creepy now. He could understand if he need some air before speaking but now he was just pausing his sentences for no apparent reason, this man was weird, really weird. _"convey you somewhere_ _ **you**_ _can do no possible harm. And where no_ _ **harm**_ _can come to you. I'm sure you can imagine there are worse_ _ **alternatives**_ _."_ Adrian had a lot of questions he wanted to ask the man, _Employers? Don't you mean the government? Where are you sending me? Why are you making yourself look like some alien?_ Before he could even spout out what he wanted to say, the man suddenly turned to his left to the cockpit door. Instead of a cockpit, a weird orb of green, yellow and orange energy radiated where the cockpit should have been. Adjusting his tie and sweeping his suit, he walked over to the orb, to suddenly disappear a second after.

Adrian was now, truly scared, he had never been scared since... he didn't like that memory, too much pain, so he focused on answering his own questions. Unfortunately, these answers weren't meant to have answers at all. Suddenly feeling drowsy, he tried to keep himself up, to answer the questions still in his now fragile mind and perhaps gain some solace. But it was a losing fight, and Adrian soon found his eyes closing, the darkness consuming his vision as he tried holding on to his conscious, but it was useless.

Then, nothingness.

 _ **CROCODILE TEARS  
\- OpBm & KAHVI, OPERATION: BLACK MESA OST  
**_ **  
SUBJECT: SHEPHARD  
STATUS: DETAINED  
FURTHER EVALUATION PENDING  
**

* * *

 **Welp, this is like my first fanfiction I've ever written. Like every aspiring fanfic writer who journeys into the vast plains of FanFiction, I'm going to ask to go easy on me (if that annoys you then hey, you can ignore such a fact), but I'd like, or in better word, would appreciate to be critiqued so that I can see what I can improve on (because that's what writing is about, duh).**

 **But I would like to forgive anyone reading this for the length of this prologue, I can promise the first chapter of everyone's favourite Corporal Adrian Shephard in Remnant will be longer than this one (then again I am just rewriting the ending to OpFor with Adrian's thoughts).**

 **I would also like to note, I have made it so that Adrian did not see the G-Man reactivate the nuclear warhead (even if it canonically(?) says so). I want this "failure" to haunt Adrian and remind him of what happens if he isn't careful nor attentive.**

 **Until then, adios.**

 **(P.S: I have actually finished Chapter 1 of this fanfiction, I'd like to refine it a bit more before I release it to the public, but I'll give online cookies to anyone who recognises or gets the title of said chapter once it is up.)**


	2. They Must Love The Smell Of Green

**After some refinement, and some minor tweaks here and there, I present you Chapter Two of this fanfiction, I'll say some more stuff at the bottom. But enjoy reading this!**

* * *

 ***Unknown Area, Time Unidentified, Date Unspecified** *****

" _Wake up, Mr. Shephard."_

Those were the first words he heard as his eyelids suddenly opened. Scared for his life, Adrian jumped once he had awoken, taking in air and panting at a rate only a man dying would do. His eyes darted left and right, he checked where the hell he was, he could see… the Osprey? How long had he been flying then?

"Maybe I was just hallucinating everything…" his eyes looked to the open door, the void was there, but the orbs he had recounted were gone. _Nope, I was wrong, THIS IS FUCKING REAL._

He thought to himself, very worried on what was going on. Adrian could see the military crates full of weapons and supplies, still, creepily in the same spot as when he suddenly fell asleep. And the man… that man was standing only centimetres away from him, staring through his soul with those darts that were his cold, green eyes.

Adjusting his tie and loosening his arms, he spoke with that low, commanding tone, it scared him now, scared him more than his drill instructor, or Dwight T. Barnes' voice ever did. He vividly remembered first hearing his shouting for the first time, he was still, though shocked, at his tone as he yelled orders at visibly scared recruits, but this voice, his voice, just emanated fear all over Adrian's mind.

" _I am glad to see you awake,_ _ **and**_ _in perfect condition, to say the least. I_ _ **must**_ _apologise for leaving you without…_ _ **questions**_ _to ask, although that is not why I have arrived for your aid. My employers, or,_ _ **a personal**_ _employer of mine has asked for your assistance in… cleansing the world he watches over."_

"Cleansing? What do you mean by cleansing?" Adrian asked, very happy he could finally speak his mind. "And who's this employer of yours, you make him look like a god with those words."

The man chuckled, _"I assure you, Mr. Shephard, this man is no_ _ **god**_ _, rather, an acquaintance of mine. He hopes you can help steer this world into the right… direction. Although the inhabitants there seem to be doing their job well."_

"I'm being sent to an alien world, am I?" Adrian questioned, "Could you perhaps, give me intel on the place or planet your about to send me to?"

The man stopped momentarily, thinking, then stated, _"This employer has assured me I am in no obligation to_ _ **give**_ _you any… information of where you will go, as it shall come through others means, but, I can_ _ **ask**_ _, will you accept this offer, Mr. Shephard?"_

Adrian paused for a few minutes, he had absolutely no clue where this man was sending him, for all he knew he could end up in the middle of the ocean, or a zombie apocalypse, dystopian future or some Tron-esque land. The man was annoying, clearly holding back useful information he desperately needed.

He didn't like this at all. Yet, the chance to be in the action again, to fight an unknown force. Adrian had always craved a combat experience, Black Mesa being one of them, despite him going through metaphorical hell during those hours there.

It was all up to what he wanted, would he rather be stuck here and be safe, or in the man's words, which he could still grasp, _"Convey you somewhere you can do no possible harm. And where no harm can come to you."_ Or rather than be stuck in this infernal Osprey that seemed to never stop, move forward, forget about Black Mesa, the HECU, the fact that his own government betrayed him and forge himself a new path that he alone could bend to his own will.

It would be hard, but he had to try. Adrian had to consider everything, he couldn't leave any variable out, he had to make the right choice.

And then he did,

"Alright," Shephard stated, "I'll accept this offer of yours, better than staying in this hunk of junk."

The man smiled, but not in a menacing way but rather, something that would be conveyed by a kind-hearted person. He moved back from Adrian's seat and lifted his hand to the right, palm facing upward. The landing ramp slowly opened to reveal a white void, just there, contrasting the darkness outside the open door of the Osprey. " _Whenever you see it fit, Mr. Shephard."_

Adrian slowly lifted himself from the seat, having not walked for some time, he got himself used to the feeling of standing on solid material. Eyes gazing at the blaring white before him, he took a deep breath before making a running start, feeling his heart pump and the adrenaline run through his veins. Like an eager paratrooper, he leapt towards the blinding brilliance, shouting an audible hoot of excitement as the light engulfed everything, his body, his mind, Adrian Shephard was free at last.

" _It is time for bloody evolution, Adrian…"_

* * *

 ***The Emerald Forest, near Beacon Academy***

The first thing Adrian smelt was the distinct smell of pollen, and grass. He was in a forest for sure, "Ugh, what the hell, where the hell am I?"

He lifted himself off the ground and got off his feet, checking his surroundings, he could see vibrant green trees swaying slowly with the wind, the grass on his feet was surprisingly healthy and sky was looking exceptionally beautiful.

Checking over himself, his PVC was still on him as well as the clothes he wore while flying to Black Mesa, with the radio too, although he suggested to himself that it would no longer work, his gas mask was on him too, and the HUD was still on, he could see that his health and vest energy were on 100%. Adrian sighed in relief and checked his night vision, "Yep, still works." he muttered under his breath.

Seeing a few boxes coupled within his sight, he walked over and saw a note. Checking it, it said, _"The things you have picked up after your… sudden arrival to Black Mesa have been safely_ _ **secured**_ _in these complimentary crates, please use to your discretion._ _ **Courtesy**_ _of "The G-Man"."_

Adrian crumpled up the note and threw it away, _Well, that's his name then. Thanks "G-Man", I'll be happy with whatever I get._ Adrian went to open the first crate, and was happy to discover in it all the weapons he had picked up during his arrival to Black Mesa, from the Pipe Wrench he had picked up, the laser-sighted Desert Eagle the HECU had given him, even the Displacer Cannon was there, along with a well-lively Shock Roach and Spore Launcher.

Taking out the Spore Launcher first, he patted the living weapon, complementing "Who's a good deadly weapon? You are, yes you are!" The Spore Launcher cooed in excitement as Adrian placed it on the grass to do its own thing. The Shock Roach was next, picking it up, he slowly let the thing's legs grasp on his arm, the legs quickly tightened themselves, bonding with the skin. It didn't hurt really, rather, it gave off a tingling feeling. "Great," Adrian groaned, "I'm going to have to try and get this thing off later, but how, I have no idea."

Looking back at the weapons, he decided to take his M4 with him, along with his Desert Eagle and Pipe Wrench. Taking a few grenades and satchel charges and stashing them into his PCV, placing the Desert Eagle in his pistol holster and the Pipe Wrench on his back strap, he checked the next crate, which luckily for Shephard, was filled to the brim with ammo for all his weapons, even the Displacer Cannon which ran on a material called "Uranium-235".

Taking what he needed and reloading his weapons. Adrian started walking over to the third crate, he was pleasantly surprised when he found his personal items stashed within. DVD cases of movies such as the Star Wars movies, The Thing, Drive, Dawn of The Dead, some John Woo movies he and his HECU buddies enjoyed and… Felicity, really?

He had never remembered buying the movie, but it was a movie none-the-less, although a perverted one to be sure. He remembered his... "No point, I'm trying to forget." He suggested to himself. He could also see books that he had bought, toys that he had grew up with yet no longer needed, his mementos that he had during his time at the HECU, his iPod that held his favourite songs and most importantly, his diary, which was the first thing he saw opening the crate.

"God, damn it, G-Man's making it hard to forget, the bastard." He called out as he closed the crate to keep its items safe. The forth crate was probably the biggest of the bunch, Adrian wondered what was even inside the damn thing, had to be some sort of missile for sure. But before he could open it a howl came from behind him. Readying his M4 and turning, he was two red eyes staring back at him, _What the fuck are you?_ No animal he ever saw on Earth had red eyes, not even the aliens he fought. The creature soon came out of the shadows to introduce itself, and Adrian was for sure interested.

The creature was a wolf, a very big wolf, larger than the average one, with its jet-black fur, it almost seemed like something out of a nightmare. The strangest thing about the wolf was that it had bony protrusions everywhere, a wolf with bone armour to summarise, even the bone surrounded the face, giving it an intimidating appearance. _Jeez, looks like the Big Bad Wolf got an upgrade._

He was mixed about this, this was out of his league for sure, yet the challenge, in his mind, was exhilarating. He aimed his M4 at the wolf's head and slowly moved back, "Wanna play fetch asshole?" he asked the wolf. It slowly walked forward, then stopped and raked the ground, _It's going to charge at me,_ Adrian smirked, _How predictable_. He turned off the safety of the M4, with a full smile under his mask.

"Alright big boy, **let's play.** "

 _ **FORGET ABOUT FREEMAN  
**_ _ **\- JOEL NIELSON (REMIX BY MORCH KOVALSKI), BLACK MESA OST  
**_ _ **(0:51)**_

Adrian was the first to fire, spraying bullets at the wolf as it covered its body with its massive arms. Running back and doing the "hit and run" tactic as taught by his drill instructors, he kept firing until his clip was empty. The wolf took the opportunity to run straight for Shephard, but he managed to roll away before it could ram him, quickly reloading his M4 and firing again, this time with a complimentary M4 grenade to the body.

The wolf was injured, but not down. Charing again Adrian quickly got himself a satchel charge and threw it down while running back again, waiting for the wolf to run over it before detonating the charge and blowing up the belly of the beast, ending its life.

Before he could celebrate another howl was heard behind him and Adrian quickly took his Pipe Wrench, slamming the wolf's head and cracking the bony covering. The wolf did not appreciate this hit and Adrian soon took a claw to the chest. The PVC's vest energy took most of the force, only inflicting minor cuts, with 94% on health and 71% on vest energy. Running away from the wolf he used the Shock Roach to grab its attention, although the shots were quite useless due to its size, the wolf soon charged again.

Placing the Pipe Wrench back, throwing down his M4 and taking out his Desert Eagle, he turned on the laser-sight and aimed for the left eye. The wolf was only metres away when Adrian took the shot, successfully crippling the left eye of the wolf. It howled in pain and held it's left paw over it to numb the sensation, but not before Adrian took another shot at the right eye, essentially now blinding the wolf as it bellowed in a mix of pain and anger.

Adrian took the opportunity to quickly run behind it while it was distracted, placing the Desert Eagle back in its holster and taking out his Pipe Wrench to cripple its legs, each crack of bone only made the wolf angrier, swiping blindly at its target, with Adrian dodged the swipes successfully, although taking the force of two in return, gaining still only minor wounds thanks to his PCV.

With the wolf now unable to move nor see, Adrian took out a grenade and pulled the safety pin, shoving it into its now mutilated right eye and running before the grenade erupted into an explosion, burning the head of the wolf clean off.

 _ **[END MUSIC]**_

Taking a moment to check for any more howls, Adrian looked at the body of the wolf, which was for some strange reason, disintegrating into thin air. Adrian could only look in bewilderment, quietly saying "What the hell, these things don't… die?" before calmly walking over to the fourth crate. Opening it he found that it did not hold a missile at all, rather what he could identify three portable Snark Nests and fifteen canisters of Spore Fruit, with three in each. "Well, that solves that case."

He closed the crate and checked over his current inventory, 1 M4 magazine, 5 Desert Eagle clips, 2 Satchel Charges and 4 hand grenades. His health was at 78% and his vest energy at a severely low 30%. Adrian couldn't afford another fight or he'd lose his life. Adrian swapped his M4 for a M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, storing it on his back, his Pipe Wrench with his knife and got himself the Displacer Cannon, carrying it in his arms.

Grabbing the necessary ammo, Adrian eventually elected to leave the crates behind, hoping that no wolves would trash them. Adrian ran towards the brush, hoping that his run could take him to civilisation.

* * *

 ***The Emerald Forest, Launch Pad Area***

Professor Ozpin watch keenly of the strange new arrival as he ran, jumping over fallen logs and crouching under branches. He had seen the man fight the two Beowolves with deadly proficiency, whoever this man was he was certainly a planner, adapting to the situation and thinking of ways to end it. He was at best, better than a normal huntress or hunter fresh out of graduation.

"Don't you think we should take action against this man?! He clearly could harm the students with those weapons!" Glynda asked worryingly, his skill was immense, **too immense** , for a person his age.

"I assure you Glynda, I don't think this man is here to harm anyone, rather," Ozpin paused as he switched to a different camera, hearing the man worry over his own predicament _"Shit, I hope I find some people soon, I seriously need direction on where the hell I'm going at this point."_ Ozpin smirked a bit, "He's simply lost, hurting the students would only hinder his objective, the students will be fine, even safer with this stranger around." Ozpin stated.

Glynda shot an angry look at Ozpin, but sighed, "I completely hope you're right about the man Ozpin." Glynda muttered. Ozpin took a sip from his mug, wondering how this man would interact with the to-be huntsmen and huntresses in training.

* * *

 ***The Emerald Forest, near Beacon Academy***

"Jeez, this is tiring work, I need some rest." Adrian tiredly said to himself, stopping and finding a tree to lay himself down on. Adrian took the time to take in some air and calm himself, after the fight with those wolves Adrian seriously needed to calm himself for another encounter with those things, he needed all his effort this time, since his suit energy was on the brink of ending entirely. Deciding to ponder on his current situation, Adrian checked over his weapons to see if they were in good condition. While checking over his knife Adrian heard the distinct bang of a sniper rifle, and howls of pain soon after.

 _Yes! Someone's out there! I gotta get my ass up and double time it!_ Putting the knife back in its holster and picking up his Displacer Cannon, he ran to the source of the sound as fast as his legs carried him, he didn't want to lose whoever was out there.

Deciding to hide under the brush after hearing several more howls, he eventually reached the source and hid under a bush, peeking out to see who it was. Adrian was completely dumbfounded when he saw a 15-year-old with a sniper rifle of sorts finishing off one of those wolves. Having neck-length choppy hair with dark red on the tips, she adorned herself with a long sleeveless dress, a black waist cincher with red lacing up front and… **a skirt?!** "Who the fuck wears a damn skirt while fighting wolves the size of Voltigores?!"

Adrian whispered. The most distinct feature of the girl was her red cape, which swayed with the wind as the corpses of the wolves disappeared. "Who is this kid trying to be? Little Red Riding Hood?" Adrian rubbed his temples, clearly annoyed with this as he saw the girl change her rifle into what seemed to be its carry form and strap it across the back of her waist. Adrian also saw a girl slightly older than LRRH beside her, she had white hair instead that pulled back into an off-centre bun tail on the right side, pinned with some sort of snowflake pin, all her attire was based on snowflakes, especially her dress which was stitched to resembles snowflakes.

She also… wore a skirt too, "For crying out loud, what is it with skirts in this forest?" Adrian rambled as the two started to bicker.

Adrian decided it was the right time to reveal himself. Lifting himself from his hiding spot, he was right behind the girls. Calling out "Hey! You tw-

Before Adrian could finish his sentence, the two suddenly turned to face him, the Red Riding Hood look-a-like jumped at the sight at him, comically putting herself in a "please don't hurt me" pose. The girl in white, on the other hand, faced the tip of her rapier towards him, a deathly glare on her eyes.

"WAAAAAAAH! SCARY MASKED MAN STAY BACK STAY BACK STAY BACK!" the red-hooded one yelled, clearly frightened of Adrian's appearance.

"You! Announce your intention or face the wrath of a Schnee!" the snowflake girl stated. Adrian, in an attempt to not die, lowered his Displacer Cannon onto the ground before raising his hands up, signifying surrender. "Hey look kid! I'm not here to hurt anyone!" Adrian firstly stated, "Could you just please, put the damn rapier down!" the snowflake girl initially kept it there, then sighed before putting it down.

"Probably not a good way to start…" Adrian muttered under his breath. Coughing, he announced himself to the two. "Alright, well, the name's Corporal Adrian Shephard of the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit. And you two are…?"

"Ruby Rose, the Grimm slaying extraordinaire! And the cutest huntress ever!" the red hooded one said.

"Ugh, the name is Weiss, Weiss Schnee, the soon to be heiress of the Schnee Dust Company." The snowflake girl blankly stated.

Grimm? Huntress? Dust? Adrian was taken back by these words, he needed answers, now. "So, uh, I'd like to ask a few questions, if that's fine by you."

"As long as you answer our questions as well!" Weiss stated to Adrian, he could only think of how much of a brat she was.

"Fine," Adrian said, "Ok first question, what the hell are the fucking Grimm?"

"Bad word! BAD WORD!" Ruby yelped, covering her ears.

"Silence you dolt!" Weiss ordered, "Anyway, the Grimm are soulless creatures bent on destroying all of humanity, how do you not know this?" She asked rudely. Adrian stayed silent, silence was his best tactic when it came to exchanges, using it against Black Ops soldiers and the Black Mesa guards too. " _Dunce_ , anyhow! What is this "Hazardous Environment Combat Unit" you're talking about?" Weiss asked.

Adrian decided to not reveal much, an overall summary would have to work. "The HECU are specially trained to deal with a variety of indoor combat situations, usually involving dangerous environments and unconventional enemies. Basically, we're the best of the best, right behind _Black Operations_." Adrian answered, a bit of a venomous tone saying, "Black Operations" was evident too.

He could see that Weiss was confused, noting it by the way she put her hands on her hips. Adrian could hear her whisper "I've never heard of a HECU before. Either this is an exclusive unit from Atlas or this "Adrian Shephard" is clearly out of his mind."

 _Great, already making a joke out of myself._ "Alright my turn," stated Adrian, "What do you mean by 'Huntress', Ruby?" He directed the answer to her this time.

"Umm, we're training to be Huntresses! To slay Grimm and be heroes! Aren't you training to be a huntsman?" Ruby questioned cutely.

"Hehe…" Adrian was stuck, and he would have to lie through it, even if he knew he was extremely bad at lying to others due to his training, especially around his drill instructors. "Well… YEAH! I'm training as… a huntsman! Yeah I am!"

"AWESOME!" Ruby yelled, Weiss just shook her head, Ruby was excited to meet another student, "So uh…" she paused for a moment, staring at Adrian.

"What?" Adrian questioned.

"WHAT'STHATWEAPONONTHEGROUNDISITYOURSDIDYOUMAKEITCANITOUCHITPLEASEPLEASEPRETTYPLEASE!" Ruby rambled so quickly Adrian only understood "weapon" and "touch". Sighing, he picked up his Displacer Cannon and held it out for Ruby to grab, of which she did without Adrian even noticing. Her eyes widened and she only looked cuter as she mumbled gibberish and stroked the Displacer Cannon like it was an average household pet.

"Do whatever you want, but if you get lost because you teleported to an alien world, blame it on yourself." Adrian quickly stated. Ruby suddenly stop and turned her head, facing Adrian, Weiss stared at him in bewilderment. "What do you mean by teleport myself to an alien world?" Ruby questioned innocently.

 _Shit._ Adrian swore to himself, although in his mind. "Uh, I meant… never mind I was just thinking of a movie I guess." Adrien lied, trying to defuse the conversation.

"Oh! That's cool." She said with Weiss face-palming herself, Adrian sighed in relief before holding out his hands. "Could I have my weapon back now?" He asked, Ruby obeyed, but looked disappointed when she gave it back.

"Ok one more question," He coughed before continuing, "What's Dust? Why put ashes so highly anyway? Part of a cult or something?" Adrian joked, the question aimed towards Weiss.

"No! You idiot! Dust is one of the most important materials in Remnant, it powers everything! And no, I'm not part of a cult so shut it!" She argued.

Adrian really wanted to sock her in the face for being so rude, but held himself back. "Jeez princess, I didn't fucking steal your money and throw it into a blender so calm yourself before I stick my boot up your bratty ass."

Weiss was dumbstruck by Adrian's comment, Ruby covered her ears in a desperate attempt to numb Adrian's remark. "EXCUSE YOU! I'LL HAVE YOU-"

Adrian quickly ran behind her and covered her mouth with his hand, Weiss struggling to say what she had in mind as Adrian's grip was quite strong. _Probably screaming swears like a banshee._ It was the only logical choice, considering Weiss was so self-entitled and 'picture perfect'.

"Hey Ruby, this Weiss girl always like this?" Adrian questioned her, with Ruby nodding. "So, what're you kids doing out here anyway?" Adrian questioned again.

"Oh! We're here looking for 'relics' because the Headmaster said so!" Ruby mentioned, "You can come with us if you want, you don't seem to have a partner." She said.

"I don't," Adrian stated, "And sure, let's leave before those Grimm get us." Letting go of Weiss, he walked with Ruby as Weiss shrieked on and on about how disrespectful he was. Adrian chuckled a bit and Ruby had a smirk grow on her face. He had a lot of questions that needed answering, although with Ruby and Weiss with him, he probably would get them soon enough, if they could reach civilisation, that is.

* * *

 **Well, now that you've finished reading this. If you do know what the title is referring to, good job. You get a cookie.  
**

 **Now, to answer some reviews, even if it is kinda redundant:**

 _ **4** \- I thank you for the comment lad, I will plan on continuing this until I reach the finale of Season 5 of RWBY, where I'll probably take a short break on this fanfiction and start on a Transformers & RWBY X-over that's currently in the works behind the scenes._

 _ **Roboman** \- No need to thank you due to the fact I've already did that through your DMs, but I hope this looks better now, and not so paragraph-heavy with like 10+ sentences in each one I write down._

 **I'll say it again, any critique and criticism is appreciated. It'll help me become a better writer and hopefully bring out other fanfictions that'll either match or exceed this one.**

 **Next chapter will certainly have Adrian face off against the Death Stalker, I assure you that.**

 **Until next time, I'll catch you folks soon!**


	3. Hitching A Ride

***The Emerald Forest, Near the 'Ancient Temple of Relics'** *****

It was a confusing day for our Corporal Adrian Shephard. First, he had found himself waking up and accepting a deal from this 'G-Man' and to then be thrust into a world where 'huntsmen and huntresses' fought against creatures called 'Grimm', and this 'Dust' replacing basically every fossil fuel he had heard of. Adrian should've expected this, but instead he kept finding himself surprised by every new term of this strange world.

"So, Adrian," Ruby was the first to speak in their trek, "What's with all the stuff you're wearing? It looks pretty cool, if a little scary seeing it for the first time."

"Oh, all of this?" Adrian looked over himself, waving a hand over his being to show Ruby. "Standard military-grade equipment for the HECU, includes a gas mask with an in-built HUD that tracks things from ammo, health, vest energy and everything else. And my PCV, or Powered Combat Vest lets me take hits without major injury."

"Cool! So, it's like an Aura!" Ruby cooed with excitement, _Aura? What does she mean by Aura? This place is really confusing the hell out of me._ "Aura? Care to explain Ruby?" Adrian asked.

"What? EVERYONE has an Aura! It's the manifestation of one's soul. You should have one too, don't you?" Ruby questioned. Adrian now hearing this, wondered if he had his own aura too, but presuming this wasn't Earth, the chances were unlikely which bummed Adrian out a bit.

"No, my… parents… never really told me about Aura when I was growing up. I survived in this world with just my wits and training from my drill instructor, Dwight T. Barnes." He chuckled as he remembered him. _Wonder where the bastard is now that I'm here, hopefully doing well._ "I can still remember taking the piss out of me during training, but to be fair he did that to all the recruits too."

Weiss had stayed silent for most of their walk during her encounter with Adrian, secretly talking with her mind and on how stupid this 'Adrian Shephard' was for offending the future heiress of the SDC. But after hearing more of the HECU and Adrian's lack of knowledge on Aura, she spoke up intent on asking some more questions.

"So, _Adrian_ ," Weiss venomously said, "Is this 'HECU' part of the Atlesian military? Special Forces?"

"Oh oh! What was Dwight like?" Ruby questioned too, she was curious about the man who 'took the piss' out of Adrian.

"Firstly…" Adrian stopped his sentence, he hated lying to others, or was forced not to lie during boot camp, it was etched into his very being really, nothing he could shrug off very easily. " _The bigger the lie, the harder the fall_." Adrian silently muttered to himself, it was a quote he believed in very much, almost religiously.

"Well, yeah, the HECU is part of the Atlesian Military's special forces, along with Black Operations, the two usually work together to clear up threats and create 'cover-ups'." It was a half-truth, Adrian liked that. "And Ruby, Dwight was the meanest son of a bitch I've ever met," He saw Ruby cover her ears, Adrian swore to himself. _Oh right, no profanity, dammit._

"Sorry. Anyway, I remember the bastard would wake everyone up at 6, me and my buddies would be tired as hell but he shouted our butts out of bed. 100 push-ups and 15 laps around the base. We were sweating like the Sun just hit us, but it was all to make us better soldiers, and he did just that. He and the other drill instructors had a saying, "I will have you eating battle, and shitting victory", I say I did that pretty well." Adrian answered.

Ruby, although she heard the profanity, smirked at the description of Dwight T. Barnes, imagining an angry man saying the exact same line Adrian has just introduced to her. Weiss just uttered out offences and shook her head. _So that's where he got his lousy attitude from. What a jerk!_

And so, Adrian, Ruby and Weiss walked for some time, either taking in the view of the Emerald Forest or talking with one another, although Weiss refused to talk to Adrian at all. Occasionally, they would encounter a group of Grimm which Adrian suggest they sneak past to save ammunition. Soon enough, Adrian and the two then came to realise that they had been walking for some time, maybe even for too long.

"Hey uh, you two know where we're going right?" Adrian asked the two. Ruby just look defeated at this point and sadly shook her head. Weiss however rolled her eyes at Ruby's stupidity and the two soon started to argue against one another. Hearing Weiss' points about Ruby, Adrian groaned in annoyance as he pulled the two apart before they said anything else.

"Okay look! We're not getting out of this shit-infested hole alive unless we work TOGETHER. We keep bickering and we'll be skeletons buried in the earth at this point. These Grimm feed on negativity," Adrian mentally thanked Ruby for mentioning this, "So let's stop comparing breast sizes and get our heads in the game alright?" Adrian calmly stated.

Ruby was taken aback by his comment, but she agreed with Adrian, nodding in approval. They had to stay focused and keep moving or get cut down piece by piece from Grimm claws and talons. Weiss however, just moaned, rubbing her temples as she nearly stormed off without them had it not been for Adrian holding onto her shoulder.

"Let go of me you dunce!" Weiss demanded.

"No, I will not, you're staying with us. That's an order." Adrian commanded.

"OH RIGHT, AND SINCE WHO MADE YOU-

"Please Weiss," Adrian was begging at this point, "We need to stick together. You may be a brat but I've let too many people die because I was too late or made a simple mistake. So just stick with us, please."

Weiss just stared at the man, she could clearly see the pain in his voice when he said that. She saw Adrian look down in defeat and Ruby watching in the background. "Adrian's right Weiss, we need to stick together, we're partners and Adrian doesn't even have one. We all need one another whether we like it or not." Ruby sorrowfully said.

Weiss looked at Adrian, who had now let go of her shoulder and was staring blankly at nothingness, then she looked at Ruby, who had a mix of determination and sadness on her face.

Weiss only sighed, before stating, "Alright fine, since you both asked so politely, I'll stay." She saw Adrian sigh in relief as he stood himself up, ready for anything. Ruby took out her sniper rifle and smiled, she was adamant for sure to do whatever it took to complete their initiation.

 _Adrian let other people die before?_ Weiss thought to herself. _What exactly are you hiding, Shephard…_

"Alright team! First order of this great journey, we should get above and scout out the area!" Ruby cheered, Adrian and Weiss both nodded in agreement. "And how will we do that exactly?" Weiss questioned in her usual 'entitled' tone.

All were on alert as a loud shriek came from above them. Readying their weapons, they looked up to see nothing, it was far away for sure but getting closer by the second. "We stay here any longer and we all get our asses kicked, let's double time it out of here." Adrian suggested. Turning to Ruby, he saw her rubbing her hands and chuckling manically, before she turned to the two, a smile fully plastered on her petite face.

"Actually, I have a WAY better idea." Ruby simply and deviously uttered.

* * *

 ***A minute later…** *****

Adrian stared in awe as he saw Ruby and Weiss cling for dear life onto a Nevermore, with Ruby shouting at the top of her lungs on how awesome it was and Weiss complaining on how stupid the idea she had was. He recounted on their plan and its execution. It was weird, in all honesty.

 **[Flashback, a minute prior]**

"So let me get this straight, you want me and Weiss to hang onto a giant bird while you try and scout ahead for the temple while also flying said bird too?!"

Ruby's plan was just absurd, shouldn't even be humanly possible, but she thought it was. The plan was for her use her sniper rifle's recoil to reach the bird and Weiss to use her glyphs to get to it too. Sadly, she did not consider Adrian into the plan and they soon found themselves in a dilemma.

"Let me change that plan," Adrian voiced his idea, "I don't have anything to reach that Nevermore, and plus, I don't want to die too. You two go and I'll catch up with you later, it's a lot better than the original plan."

"Well, I can use my glyphs to propel you to the Nevermore, no matter how infinitely stupid this plan is." Weiss simply cemented. She heard an audible "Hey!" from Ruby and Adrian soon spoke up. "You need the energy, and the Aura, to fight the damn thing too. I can handle myself, trust me Weiss."

Adrian soon heard a terrible caw in the distance, the Nevermore was getting nearer, and the had to do this, even if Adrian had no idea how. "Now you two better go. Just remember, you both need each other, don't doubt each other either, alright?"

"Yeah~! White Rose power~!" Ruby sung.

"Humph! Of course, I will!" Weiss added, offended by Adrian's lack of confidence in her.

The call of the Nevermore was getting ever so closer, and the two couldn't let their opportunity leave them. Adrian was gawking as Ruby switched her rifle into its scythe mode while Weiss summoned a glyph beneath her, visibly surprising Adrian as well. _Girls with over-sized scythes and magic at their fingertips. What kind of world did the G-Man send me too?!_ Before he could even say a word about it, the Nevermore suddenly appeared above them, and Adrian was bewildered as ever by this sight too.

To summarise, the Nevermore was a giant crow that had the same jet-black colour scheme as all the Grimm, but this one had bone covering its face, its defence exchanged for feathers that could tear a man apart, as Ruby had put it. The Nevermore paid no mind to them, flying over the trees looking for more suitable prey to kill.

"OKGOTTAGOIT'SBEENCOOLPLEASEDON'TDIEBYE!" Ruby quickly exclaimed as she pulled on the trigger of her sniper scythe, propelling her straight towards the giant flying Grimm.

"It's been a pleasure, Adrian, and… try not to die too." Weiss weakly asked, using her glyph to throw herself to where Ruby was heading. Adrian smiled, pleasantly surprised. _Those kids are going to be a treat to know, good luck to the both of you._

 **[End Flashback]**

Adrian watched the Nevermore fly out of his sight, and he was alone once again. But the experience of adventuring Ruby and Weiss had given certainly warmed Adrian's heart. Ruby was an innocent girl, naïve yet steadfast. Weiss was a brat and an inconsiderate girl but he saw the skill she had. _She's hiding something, I bet on it._

Adrian snapped back to reality as he heard another shot ring in the distance and realising he was on his lonesome once again. The Grimm would tear him limb from limb if he stayed, so he elected himself to run elsewhere, or more precisely, north-east of where the two girls had ridden off to, and where the gunshot was heard.

"Better keep moving." Adrian gripped the grip of his Displacer Cannon tightly as he ran off to the direction he heard the shot. Dodging the branches and logs, and firing his Displacer Cannon at any unfortunate Grimm that decided to chase after him, all of them collapsing before disappearing.

Adrian soon saw a red-haired girl in some sort of Greek or Roman armour, a shield on her left wrist and a spear in her right hand. The person next to her also wore some sort of armour too and had blonde hair, but he had a sword instead and seemed to be wearing normal clothes under the armour.

Adrian didn't want another encounter where he was near the brink of death, so he calmly walked away to make some distance before bringing some attention to himself. Luckily for him, the redhead warrior spun around hearing Adrian's footsteps. She sighed, uttering something about him not being a Grimm, before introducing herself.

"Hello," greeted the girl, "I'm Pyrrha Nikos, and you are?" Adrian was happy this encounter wasn't so violent. Relaxing, he took a step forwards before lazily saluting. "Adrian Shephard, nice to meet you Pyrrha." Adrian decided not to reveal his Corporal status or his affiliation with the HECU, it was easier and stopped answers coming his way "Who's the kid next to you?"

Before Pyrrha could say, the blonde suddenly shifted in front of her, but accidentally fell off his feet due to how quickly he had done it. Lying on the ground, he smiled in an attempt to make a good impression. "Uh, Jaune, Jaune Arc. Ladies like the name, rolls of the tongue real nice." he finally said.

Adrian chuckled at the comment, holding out a hand to help Jaune up. "Yeah, sure they do kid." Jaune took the hand as Adrian helped him up, patting him on the back. "Don't worry, you already look like a good guy, no need for impressions."

"Huh? How'd you know?" Jaune questioned, surprised at his intuition.

"Soldier senses," Adrian simply replied, "Helps me not get a bullet through the brain or a grenade to the face. Now, you two looking for the relics too I'm guessing?"

"Of course." Pyrrha softly smiled at Adrian's brotherly emotions.

"What she said," Adrian could see Pyrrha's smile turn into a frown as she turned towards a cave that was in front of the three. "We think the relics are in the cave, want to come with us?"

Adrian just nodded, although he was disappointed, internally swearing. _Shit, if this is really where the relics are, Ruby and Weiss are heading the wrong way_ , _I'll pick up a relic as a 'thank you' present later._

It was enough for Jaune as she motioned Pyrrha to move into said cave. They could all see etched carvings of men fighting with some scorpion, the carvings getting more and more intense and cramped with more events as they went inside. Soon the natural light couldn't do anything to light their way, and so Jaune had grabbed a thick stick and some flint-stone, with Adrian offering to tear off his shirt as some rags which Jaune accepted with a "Thanks." squeaking from his mouth.

The trio had a torch burning bright as they continued further into the caves. Soon the carvings completely dissipated and Adrian was feeling unsure of this whole plan. He could see Pyrrha felt the same too, as she gripped her spear tightly and constantly was looking everywhere for any dangers. "Hey Jaune, you sure this is the relics are? Seems like a normal cave to me." He begrudgingly stopped to take in his surroundings before continuing to walk.

"I'm pretty sure," Jaune confidently squeaked, "Just some more walking and we'll be out of here."

"I'm not sure this is it." Pyrrha blankly said, afraid of how claustrophobic it was getting.

"Pyrrha, I made the torch. Could you at least humour me for, like, five more feet?" Jaune sighed at Pyrrha's comment.

"Good work Jaune, if we all die crying I'll thank my friends, my drill instructor and most especially, you, once we get to Heaven." Adrian sarcastically added. Pyrrha just laughed, although not too wildly while Jaune just gave him a thumb up.

Before they could trek farther, Jaune suddenly found himself tripping as he let go of the torch he was holding, it going into a puddle as it gasped its last breaths before going out. Jaune grumbled as he got to his feet and Pyrrha was now very worried for their safety, even if Adrian and Jaune couldn't see it.

"Luckily, I'm here with you lot," Adrian wooed and cheered softly as he turned on his night vision, and thus the directions became clear once again. "I got night vision, so you two just stay behind me, I'll stay up front, got it?" The two nodded as he switched out his Displacer Cannon for his M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, aiming to where they intended to walk.

"Do you… feel that?" Pyrrha, scared, requested for their answers.

"Soul-crushing regret?" Jaune answered.

"Shit, I feel it too, I'm guessing what you're about to say is going to be real dark." Adrian murmured.

"It is," Pyrrha cried out. "It's… _warm_."

* * *

 ***Ruby PoV***

The moment was sooooo exhilarating! Flying on this giant Grimm like all heroes would do is such an amazing feeling! The air! The danger! The excitement! Oh, if Yang was here she would be screaming with me too, _and be worried for me as well_ , she's my sis after all!

"DO YOU SEE ANYTHING?!" I heard Weiss shout at the top of her lungs.

"I GOT NOTHING!" I simply yelled, "WE SHOULD KEEP LOOKING!"

"OH OUM THIS IS SO UNBELIEVABLY UNSAFE! I WISH I WAS ADRIAN RIGHT NOW!" Weiss cried out, with a tear running down her cheek. I knew that Adrian was safe on the ground so unprotected while Weiss was in the air tearing up for dear life. Oh, she's such a cry-baby!

"OH, I WISH ADRIAN IS SAFE TOO!" I screeched. _Hmm, I wonder what Adrian's doing? Probably being so cool and being all soldier-like and screaming "I'll make you dirty Grimm eat battle and poop victory! Haha!"_

Then I noticed, _THE BIRD'S GETTING FASTER, YEEEEEEEEAH!_

Weiss could only scream, "OH OUUUUUUUUUUUUM!"

* * *

 ***The Emerald Forest, Unknown Cave System***

 _ **LOST IN THOUGHT  
**_ _ **\- CHRIS JENSEN, HALF-LIFE: OPPOSING FORCE OST**_

"Move slowly, with me, and don't go forward unless I tell you to."

The two blind teens stayed behind Adrian as he walked further into the cave, although they we're creeping up to whatever would greet them at the other side, and not much progress nor distance was being made. What only seemed to be a minute felt like an eternity of a walk as they continued forwards onto whatever presented itself soon enough.

"I'm scared, it's really dark." Jaune seeped out.

"Don't worry Jaune, I'll protect you, and Adrian will be our eyes. We'll be safe." Pyrrha assured Jaune.

"She's right, just hold onto my shirt and you'll be fine. We'll keep each other's asses safe, I promise." Adrian turned his head slightly to see Pyrrha lift her hand towards Jaune's as she held it tight. They both blushed in a scarlet fashion as soon as they felt it.

 _Ah man, teens._

They tip-toed onwards as Adrian could see some light in the distance, shining gold like the Sun as it dangled right in front of them, easing them to come forward. He carefully advanced, before stopping.

"H-hey! It's the relic!" Jaune ran forwards intent on grabbing it and legging it out of here but Adrian sliced his hand where Jaune was going to run to, with the blonde colliding and stumbling back.

"I need a clear visual first. Stay here, I'll scout ahead." Adrian readied his M249 Squad Automatic Weapon as he stepped forwards. As he got closer and closer, he could see that the "relic" was attached to something, his eyes soon widening as he realised what he was facing up against.

It was a scorpion, a **massive, mother-fuckin' scorpion.**

The "relic" was in fact, its stinger acting as a lure for unfortunate souls. Stepping back quietly, Adrian breathing was slow and steady, his feet barely making much sound as he walked back towards Jaune and Pyrrha.

"We need to get the hell out of here, now." The two tilted their heads in confusion, "Look, this isn't where the relics are, unless you consider a giant-ass, man-eating and bone-crushing scorpion a relic of worth." He explained to the duo.

"Oh crap," Jaune shivered, "Yeah, we really need to leave, like now."

"The carvings were trying to warn us…" Pyrrha mentioned, "Let's just go."

Before anyone could even move an inch, they heard shuffling coming from the direction where the scorpion laid. Peering back, Adrian could see the beady eyes of the insect open as it lifted itself off the ground, snapping its pincers to get them ready for the three idiots who had just stumbled into its lair.

Its ruse had failed, and now it was time for Plan B of killing these humans.

 _ **[END MUSIC]**_

 _ **WE'VE GOT HOSTILES  
**_ _ **\- JOEL NIELSON (REMIX BY MORCH KOVALSKI), BLACK MESA OST**_

"Uh guys! What's going on!?" Jaune was 'pissing his pants' scared now, Adrian placed his hands on both the teens' shoulders.

"Run, and get the hell out of here, I got a plan." The two nodded and ran off the opposite direction. Adrian turned off the safety to his weapon and aimed. "Come and get me, you ugly shit." The giant scorpion shrieked, almost like laughter as it made its advance towards the corporal.

Firing his weapon, the bullets dissipated as they made contact with the insect, making nothing more than simple scratch marks from the shrapnel of said bullets. Swearing, Adrian ran away, running backwards as he continued firing at the creature with no killing effect. Swearing again, he finally turned, legging it as the scorpion kept on its onslaught.

Luckily for our Shephard, he was much faster than this beast, and soon enough he was making distance. The scorpion was about a few feet behind when Adrian burst from the entrance of the cave, with Pyrrha and Jaune awaiting his arrival.

"Adrian, what's going on?!" Pyrrha was paid no mind at all as Adrian walked to the entrance. Taking out his remaining satchel charges, he threw them to the sides of the cave before walking back with the trigger in his hand, eyes gleaming through his mask with a soldier's look.

"Adrian! Please what is going on?!" Pyrrha requested again. Adrian snapped back from his soldiering world, staring at Pyrrha before calming his eyes. "Just stay behind me, and watch my back."

Pyrrha rapidly switched her spear into some sort of rifle, while Jaune raised his shield and sword. Watching the monster get nearer, he simply waited for the right time to do what he needed to do. Smirking under his mask, his thumb was itching to press the trigger and as the thing got close to the entrance, he knew now was the right time.

"Sayonara."

Adrian squeezed the trigger, activating the four charges with them exploding in an orange blaze, Adrian stared, contempt with his actions while the two teens turned back in awe as the smoke soon rose to reveal Adrian had caved in the entrance. The shrill screams of the scorpion could be heard as it probably was surprised by such events.

 _ **[END MUSIC]**_

"Now that we have that sorted, we sho-

A sudden rumble caught the trio's attention and they soon saw some of the rocks shaking and falling to the ground. _Dammit, damn it all god damn it._ Adrian turned to Pyrrha and Jaune, nodding their heads to hear what he had to say.

"The rocks won't hold it back for long," Adrian stated, "Jaune, you go north-east from here, and go look for help. Since me and Pyrrha have the ranged advantage against it, we'll stay back and try to ward it off if we can. If we can't, we'll lead it back to you. Hopefully you'd have found some help by then."

The orders were simply, but effective. Jaune uttered a "Good luck Adrian, you too Pyrrha, stay safe." As he ran off for help, Adrian noticed the girl was smiling, despite what was going to happen to the both.

"You got the hots for Jaune? Or something else?" Adrian asked.

"Oh!" Pyrrha jumped from his comment, blushing red. "Oh it's not that, rather, it's good to hear from someone who cares for just who I am as a person instead of my achievements." Pyrrha blurted out, still flustered.

"Oh?" Adrian curiously titled his head. "What do you mean by that, you seem like any normal girl to me."

"You don't know?" Pyrrha inquired. Both turned to see the rocks getting more and more loose, the bug's bright red eyes staring into their beings through a nook as it resumed taking down the makeshift barrier.

Pyrrha sighed. "Now's not the time, we need to keep it away." Pyrrha raised her rifle while Adrian aimed his M249 Squad Automatic Weapon at the entrance.

"You ready for this, Spartan?" Adrian joked.

"Maybe?" Pyrrha shrugged, smiling sheepishly.

The rocks soon collapsed as a pincer thrust itself through the entrance, Adrian could now see that the scorpion was in fact another Grimm, with the usual bony coverings around it. Crawling out from its cave, the scorpion Grimm clapped its pincers and scuttled towards them, attempting to intimidate the both. Adrian and Pyrrha weren't so let down by it what-so-ever.

"Death Stalker…" Pyrrha whispered.

"Oh great," Adrian moaned, "Here we go again…"

* * *

 ***The Emerald Forest, 'Ancient Temple of Relics'***

"Blake, did you hear anything? The explosions, gunfire, nothing at all?" Yang turned to her partner for an answer, but received none, as she was still paying attention up above. Yang paid no mind to this, "What should we do?"

Before both could answer, Yang swore she heard a faint scream that sounded exactly like her little sister Ruby Rose. Dismissing it at first, she turned her head to where Blake was staring to find her sister, falling like a torpedo, was heading straight towards them, _and she was going to crash like a downed aeroplane._

"HEADS UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!" Ruby warned the two as she continued to fall, presumably to a sick and grisly death. Before she could even land, Yang ran towards where she was going to land, holding out her hands and successfully catching Ruby before anything bad could happen. Yang just looked at her little sister, disappointed. Blake just watched and Ruby started to snicker nervously.

"Hehe, hi… Yang." Ruby hid under her hood, but Yang simply smiled before ungraciously letting her fall onto the ground with a loud thump.

"That was an awesome entrance sis! Sooooo, how'd you do it?" Yang questioned Ruby.

"Yang, did your sister just fall from the sky with no context at all?" Blake interrupted. Yang turned to say something but was stopped again when crashes were heard coming from the forest. Watching to see what would happen, with Ruby getting herself up before joining, an Ursa suddenly jumped out from the brush, swiping its claws in a mad fashion just as a pink blast of energy radiated from its back, sending it to the ground dead as the one behind it revealed themselves, or, herself.

"YEEEEEE-HAAAAW!" The hyperactive one hooted as she rolled off the beast, before realising the Ursa was now gone. Saddened, she got up from the ground. "Awwwww… It's broken." Yang, Blake and Ruby were just bewildered, and worried too.

Another person revealed themselves, a male in green, seemingly Imperial clothing and black hair, with some pink on some of the strands on the right. "Nora! Please… don't ever do that again." He breathed hoarsely to catch his breath as he suddenly realised Nora was gone from her position. Suddenly terrified for her safety, he looked around frantically, calming himself a bit when he found Nora at the supposed 'temple' picking up a golden rook piece.

"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" She chanted.

" **Nora!** " Ren called her back. "Coming, Ren!" Nora sang as she skipped back to her best friend.

"Did that girl just ride on an Ursa?" Blake commented.

"That was so cool, I wanna try doing that!" Ruby exclaimed.

"I…" Yang struggled to get an answer out of herself.

Then, to add to such randomness, Jaune came running from the forest, panting as he collapsed, feebly getting as much air into his lungs as he could before getting up. He could see Ruby, who he had met during his arrival at Beacon, and some other people he didn't know of. He rushed to Ruby since she was the only one he got to know.

"Ruby! I-I need help, my partner's fighting some giant scorpion and she's with some guy called Adrian Shephard!" He pleaded to her.

"Wait! You know Adrian?! T-then how can I help?" Ruby was stopped as Yang suddenly stepped into her way, arms crossed.

"Ruby," Yang said, "Who's this Adrian guy? And…" She stopped, before smirking, " _How old is he, exactly~?_ "

"YAAAAAANG!" Ruby groaned, "Now's not the time! We need to go and-"

Before Ruby could finish that sentence, Pyrrha came running from the trees, towards Jaune as she skidded to a stop. "Jaune!" She sighed, and looked around, seeing he had found some help.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune was glad she was still here. "Where's Adrian!?"

All the teens turned to hear the sounds of trees being uprooted as the Death Stalker came crashing out, lasing about and letting its limbs flail about as it struggled with something most of them didn't know was happening.

But Pyrrha knew.

The giant thing was trying to get some man in military apparel off its back, not using its stinger in an attempt to not hurt itself.

"HOLY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-"

* * *

 ***The Emerald Forest, The Cliffs***

IIIIIIIIIIIT!" Ozpin heard Adrian aloud as he saw him clinging for dear life on the back of a Death Stalker. He simply chuckled at the sight, sipping from his mug as he silently kept watching. _What a peculiar man, such bravery too…_

Glynda watched as well, surprised by his actions. Seeing Adrian crawl his way to the head of the Death Stalker. _By Oum, this man… he is something alright…_

* * *

* **The Emerald Forest, 'Ancient Temple of Relics'***

"ADRIAN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Ruby cried out, she reached for her scythe-rifle to help him in any way.

"NO! STAY BACK ALL OF YOU! I GOT THIS!" Adrian confidently gave a thumbs up as she crawled within arm's reach of the scorpion's eyes. Pulling the knife from his holster, he aimed for the left eye. "Say cheese, Hanzo." Adrian grunted as he shoved the knife into its eye.

The Death Stalker shrieked in pain as it used everything it had to shake him off. Adrian ignored this and pulled out a grenade, shoving it into its now non-functioning eye as he let go, falling to the ground as the grenade finally blew up, baking off the Death Stalker's head as it fell, dead. Adrian groaned, he felt like all his bones had broken bailing out, but him standing else told him otherwise. Wooing, we turned to the teens, "And that, is how you kick ass, like Barnes told me." He spoke.

"Adrian…" Ruby walked up to Adrian dumfounded, he expected Ruby to hug him or scream about how brash he was, he closed his eyes in anticipation and leaned back. But the true result was unexpected, but not impossible.

"That. Was. So…" _Dangerous? Stupid? Insane?_ Adrian thought, bracing himself.

"AWESOMELIKEYOUJUMPEDONTHEGRIMMANDYOUHURTIT'SEYESANDTHENBLEWUPITSHEADLIKEBOOOOOOOMOHMYGOSHYOU'RESOAWESOMEADRIAN!" Ruby babbled out like a baby with a sparkle in her eyes. Adrian was at this point dead-confused.

 _AWESOME?! SINCE WHEN DID DANGEROUS ACTIVITY CONSTITUTE TO AWESOME?!_ Adrian rubbed his head a little. "Uh, thanks Ruby, I appreciate it."

"Ruby!" A yellow-haired girl paced towards the hyperactive teen and smacked her head lightly, "Hehe, sorry about my sister. Name's Yang." She held out a hand for Adrian to shake.

"You're her sister?" Adrian was a little surprised. "You two look barely alike."

"We get that sometimes, but it's same father, different mothers…" She looked a bit down saying it, Adrian noticed, but she kept speaking, "Soooo, how old are you Shephard~?"

"Old enough to the point where it'd be illegal to date you." Adrian went sour instantly knowing that Yang had just hit on her despite the age gap. Yang raised her hands. "Alright then." Adrian raised his brows before noticing something was missing…

"Ruby, where the hell is Weiss?"

A feminine scream was heard and all looked up to see Weiss hanging onto the talon of a Nevermore, which both she and Ruby had flown on. She was struggling to hold her grip and was slowly slipping. Adrian just face-palmed and turned to Ruby, who was trying to act all innocent-like.

"Seriously Ruby, if she dies it's on you. Just saying." Adrian noted.

"Don't worry, I think Ice Queen will be just fine!" Yang shrugged off the fact.

"HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME?!" Weiss was startled as she began to slip more and more.

"I said 'jump' y'know!" Ruby shouted to her.

"I think she's gonna fall, really soon." Blake added.

"Oh, if she falls! I call dibs on catching her!" Nora excitedly ordered, although no one really cared.

Pyrrha analysed the situation, and thought of a simple suggestion "If she can use her weapon to get somewhere with a better grip, maybe she cou-"

Then Weiss let go, and then Weiss was falling to her demise.

"Hold on… to… something." Pyrrha finished.

"And now she's falling." Ren looked on as Weiss continued to fall, with her screaming with all her breath.

"Shit! Who's going to catch her?!" Adrian ran forward to hopefully catch Weiss before she became a puddle of broken bones and blood. But he stopped in his tracks as he saw Jaune on a branch, watching Weiss plummet to the ground with a smile on his face.

"Jaune you crazy bastard, what do you think you're doing! Get back here!" Adrian commanded.

"No can do!" Jaune laughed heartily, "I've got a girl to save!"

Adrian watched in awe as Jaune bravely leaped from the branch, managing to catch Weiss before she hit the ground. Adrian just clapped in applause while the others cheered. Ren was calm as ever and Pyrrha smiled at Jaune's new-found bravery.

"Just… dropping in?" Jaune confidently smiled but Weiss said nothing as she was too stunned. Had Jaune been a bit too welcoming? The quote wasn't her taste? Maybe she was just shocked to be in the arms of such a man like-

Then they all realised the two were still in the air, applause turned to horror in an instant.

"Oh, God." Jaune hung onto Weiss, and she did the same as they both fell, their weapons falling with them from a distance. Adrian watched on, the fall wasn't too high, they'd survive.

"Oh nooooooooooo- Oomph!" Jaune landed face-first onto the ground, the air taken out of him as he laid there. Adrian went to help him but Jaune was getting himself up again to only be forced back down by Weiss, who had used him as a landing pad of sorts.

"My hero." Weiss mockingly called out as she stood up, sweeping the dirt from her skirt.

"My back." Jaune at this point didn't get up, too beat to do anything.

"My boy." Adrian crouched to lend Jaune a hand, of which he did and received a pat on the back and a nod from Adrian.

"Umm, not to break this reunion, but I think we should be getting out of here." Ren pointed above and the lot all saw Nevermores of various sizes circle their position. "Crap, I agree with Mulan here."

"It's Ren." He said.

"My apologies, Ren." Adrian kept staring at he started to pick out his targets.

"Oh great! Now we can aaaaaall die together as a gang of misplaced students!" Yang joked grimly.

"Not a chance," Adrian butted in, "We're getting out of here, together. The ones with the ranged advantages, rockets, rifles and the such, stick with me and pick off the smaller ones. The others watch our backs and lead the way out of here. We'll be right behind you." Adrian suggested.

"A good plan." Ren smiled.

"Yeah! Let's do it!" Nora cheered.

"Agreed." Weiss stated.

"I think it'll work." Blake added.

"Hell yeah! Let's go punch ourselves some Grimm! Yang style!" Yang smashed her fists together.

"No punching Yang." Adrian ordered, she pouted at the fact but was gleeful none-the-less.

"And we'll be right behind you." Pyrrha reminded them.

"Good job Adrian." Ruby smiled, proud.

"I mean hey," Adrian started as he reloaded his M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, "I've led teams before, I can handle it." He nodded. "Alright ladies! Into formation! Double time! And don't break from the group!"

Taking the relics beforehand, they sped off before any Grimm could land an opportunity. While Jaune, Ren, Nora, Weiss and Blake held the front, Adrian, Ruby, Pyrrha and Yang held the Nevermores back.

Yang used her rockets, blasting them from her gauntlets as they flew towards the flock. Ruby and Pyrrha took pot shots at their heads, downing them one by one while Adrian sprayed wildly as the bullets ripped through flesh and bone. The ones at the front easily dealt with the odd Grimm attracted to such action.

The gang soon were out of the forest, now facing a series of more abandoned structures as the remainder of the Nevermores circled their position, firing their feathers when necessary. The four managed to take them all down, but there was still one giant Nevermore left. Adrian gritted his teeth, it looked bigger than the rest, and its actions certainly told him this was a creature who had been through many things. _Almost like myself. Black Mesa was a mess, just… a fucking mess._ Adrian thought.

Roars of various creatures could be heard as Adrian could see a lot of red eyes striking right at them, getting closer as they ran with killer intent. He internally swore while Jaune looked with him. "That's a lot of Grimm! Are you sure we can face them?!" Jaune stumbled back, afraid of what would come. "Beowolves, Ursa and some Creeps, I see 4 to 5 Alpha Beowolves too. We should be fine provided we have a plan!" Pyrrha said.

Adrian squinted his eyes, thinking of a plan. Then it all clicked in his mind and they were ready to go. "Jaune! Nora! Pyrrha and Ren! You stay with me and hold these Grimm off! Ruby! Weiss! Blake and Yang! Take out that Nevermore before it kills us all!" They all agreed. Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang raced off to confront the Nevermore while Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren alongside Adrian directly faced the horde of Grimm.

Bullets blazed the air and the sounds of battle rung through the forest as the Grimm fell one by one. Nora and Ren worked exceptionally well, considering they were best friends. Jaune's sword-fighting was atrocious, with Pyrrha often having to come save him, but he led the others well, even Adrian was impressed counting on the fact that Adrian led squads of HECU through Black Ops territories during the Black Mesa incident.

Ruby and Weiss were begrudgingly working together, but the combination of their skills gave them the advantage. Yang and Blake, not so much, and Blake usually confronted the Nevermore alone sometimes while Yang was a lot more troublesome than Adrian could ever dream to be.

But they managed to pull through in the end. Ruby with the help of the other three, pulled off an amazing feat as she ran up a cliff and decapitated the Nevermore's head. Adrian and the others had also pushed the Grimm back, some running as soon as they knew they were to be defeated. He had used the Displacer Cannon a few times, the teens amazed as they saw the Grimm collapse before disappearing.

"WOOHOO, YEAH VICTORY!" Yang hooted as she collapsed from all the fighting.

"Woooooo…" Jaune fell soon after, not being able to move.

All the others either collapsed or sat down, exhausted from their fight. Adrian was the only one standing, not even remotely tired as he turned from the teens, walking back into the forest. Ruby noticed this and crawled her way to him, latching onto his leg.

"Adrian, where are you going?!" Ruby questioned, she was worried that Adrian looked like he was heading back into the forest full of Grimm.

"My stuff…" Adrian panted, "I left my stuff back there. Ammo, weapons, everything. I can't leave it there!"

"Then perhaps, I can assist you in such matters." A new, unfamiliar voice called out to him. Adrian and the teens turned to see a really sleek V-22 Osprey, unlike the Ospreys back in America which were admittedly clunky, this one was smooth and elegant, way more advanced too. The Osprey landed onto the ground and the side doors open. The faces Adrian saw were alien to him, but the teens fully knew who was facing them.

A man came out, he had grey hair as well as spectacles adorning his face. He wore an unzipped black suit over a more casual dark-green buttoned vest and green shirt. The most noticeable thing about him was his cane. He didn't look old, yet he still had one. He also had a mug of which he took a gulp out of before smiling at Adrian, almost in a fatherly way.

The woman behind him acted more like he was an unneeded danger. She had light-blonde hear that was tied into a bun. Wearing a white, long-sleeved and pleated top and a pencil skirt complete with stockings. She held a riding crop in her hand, tightening her grip as she stared suspiciously at Adrian.

"I would like to congratulate you all for your efforts, I assure you it shall not be wasted. But," The man walked up to Adrian, with some spacing between them. "You on the other hand, are much more interesting to me, _Corporal_ Adrian Shephard."

Adrian had to step back a little. _How the hell does this guy know my name?! And my rank none-the-less?!_ He clenched his fists in anger, with the man seemingly noticing this.

"Don't worry Mr. Shephard, I'm not here to hurt you. I have cameras all over the Emerald Forest to keep track of the participants, you only happened to stumble upon some of them." He held out his hand, "I am Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy, it is and honour to have a man with such a skillset be here in my beloved school."

The woman stepped forward. "Professor Goodwitch. I'm one of the many staff at Beacon Academy, and the combat professor."

Adrian acknowledged Goodwitch while shaking Ozpin's hand, although wearily. "Might as well. Corporal Adrian Shephard of the HECU, or Hazardous Environment Combat Unit. Trained in the Santego Military Base, I'm a soldier through and through, sir."

"Santego? Hmm, I see." Ozpin finished the handshake and took a sip from his mug. "I've already taken the liberty of transporting your goods to Beacon, now all you have to do is come with us. I'm sure staying here doesn't sound too pleasant now." Adrian nodded, but before he walked he ushered the man to come closer.

"Did you perhaps… find a green thing? Two arms, green and greenish-grey, smells like rotten fruit and coos a lot? You take it too?" Adrian asked, he liked the Spore Cannon quite a bit.

"Rest your concerns, I have taken anything worth of value from the crates." Ozpin leaned back, "Now, let us get going, I'd like to have a chat with you."

Adrian nodded as he followed Ozpin and Glynda to the Osprey. Waving the kids goodbye as they made their way up the cliffs to head back too. Adrian got inside as it took off. The day had certainly been something, fighting beasts from nightmares and looking after kids with sophisticated weapons. But where ever he was heading next, his future lied beyond there.

And he wasn't going to let it go so easily.

 **SUBJECT: SHEPHARD  
** **STATUS: ACTIVE  
** **OBJECTIVE AWAITING COMPLETION**

* * *

 **Woo, I must say first of all, I'm sorry for not uploading this chapter. Apparently someone had cut something outside causing the Internet to not only die on me, but everyone in the apartment too. Sad I must say really.**

 **Anyway, time for some more redundant review... reviewing(?):**

 **Roboman** _\- Good to hear. Hope this looks appealing too. Also I did actually read your fanfiction, "RWBY: Continuing Science", I'm not usually a fan of AU fanfictions but your one just kinda, clicked with me. But thanks again for the comment._

 **Ghogenesis** _\- I will be keeping it up, I assure you with that. And also nice to see another 'A. Shephard' fanfiction writer, I might take a look at your 'Interceptor Six: Remnant" soon enough._

 **As always, leave any criticism/critique on my work, it helps massively and I appreciate it too. And I'll see you later!**

 **Next Chapter: A loooooooot of explainations...**


	4. Worlds Collide Again (Pt 1)

***Bullhead, Nearing Beacon Academy***

The ride to Beacon was nothing but awkward to Adrian. He was currently in some V-22 Osprey with Professor Ozpin and Goodwitch, all of them distracted with their own little things.

Ozpin simply stared out into the sky, watching the clouds go by as he took some sips from his mug. Goodwitch was doing the same although not for the same reason as Ozpin, making herself look ordinary as she kept a watchful eye on the mysterious soldier. And Adrian was standing still, away from the two as he collected his thoughts.

The adrenaline had stopped flowing once he had gotten on, and he soon realized the perilous situation he was in. _No money, no place to go to, no connections at all. This is really bad._ Adrian looked back at the two. _Ozpin's nice, well the creepy and suspicious kind of nice, and Goodwitch is just bad at trying to conceal her eyes from me._

"Professor Goodwitch, I know you're watching me," The woman in question quickly turned away blushing, clenching her fists in both anger and embarrassment. "Look, trust comes in two ways, doing something for someone and admitting a few things. I'm not going to trust you if you keep staring at me like that." Adrian blankly stated.

"Well Mr. Shephard, then I'd like to know where this Santego Military Base is! For what I know Ironwood certainly has no base with such name." Goodwitch replied.

"Glynda," Ozpin turned to her, his look indicating her to just keep her mouth shut. "We can question Mr. Shephard later. For now, let's make sure our guest is comfortable." He ushered Adrian to come forward as he made some room for Adrian to stand beside him.

"Damn, this is one hell of a view." Adrian awed, all the buildings, the shops down below and people walking about. It almost seemed like an American city at this point.

"Yes, Vale is surely wonderful." Ozpin smiled, he loved this city even if he didn't visit it often.

The two continued to stare at the view that was in front of them, Adrian constantly looked around, watching the buildings and people fly by as the Osprey headed closer to Beacon. Ozpin stared at him in curiosity.

"Remind you of something, Mr. Shephard?" He questioned, Adrian simply stared back, then laughed.

"Yeah, it does." Adrian stopped, then looked down in grief. "Rather not talk about it."

"I fully understand, we'll be at Beacon in about 2 minutes, anything else?" Ozpin asked.

"Well, these Ospreys, they look better than the ones back home. Which government built them exactly?"

"Atlas, and to an extent the SDC," Glynda blurted in. "Sorry Ozpin, I just couldn't handle myself being so quiet."

"Apology accepted, Glynda." Ozpin had taken note of how he had called them "Ospreys" instead of Bullheads. _Peculiar, another questioned to be answered in due time._

Suddenly the door to the cock-pit opened slightly. Adrian half expected the G-Man to pop up and greet him with some cryptic bullshit. Luckily this wasn't the case as the head of the co-pilot popped out from the opening.

"Sir, we're here, I suggest you hold onto something." None of the three really listened, with how slowly the Bullhead was flying, all were sure they'd be fine as they landed on a landing pad smack-bang facing Beacon Academy.

"Welcome Mr, Shephard, to Beacon Academy!" Ozpin exclaimed his words with the upmost confidence, which was rewarded with Adrian's eye-widening and stationary position as they walked out.

Beacon Academy, in an American viewpoint, looked more like some ancient monument that had faced the pains of time. Large almost European-like spires rose in the distance, it was beautiful in a way. The longest tower stood in the middle, a shining monument that was Beacon Academy. Adrian just shook his head in disbelief.

"Ozpin, you sure you're a professor and not a multi-millionaire?!" Adrian managed to spew out, Ozpin laughed at this point, this disbelief was comforting to him.

"I am the Headmaster of Beacon Academy, something I forgot to mention," Ozpin added. "My office is just ahead, the tallest tower of them all, Beacon Tower." Ozpin smirked, he liked the view the tower gave him, the view of his most wonderful academy.

Adrian only looked at him bewildered, before laughing as well. "Damn Ozpin, you are one lucky Headmaster." Both men laughed, it was certainly something.

"Yes, Beacon Academy is quite beautiful, the best of the best I believe," Goodwitch stated, cutting them both from laughing, although she was smiling, "But we have things we must attend to. Professor Oobleck is waiting for you at the Main Avenue, I and _Ozpin_ must get the students into the teams."

Ozpin nodded at Glynda's comment and Adrian murmured an audible "Got it." Ozpin pointed where he needed to go, "There's a statue in the middle of the Avenue, you can't miss it." Adrian gave a lazy salute and both parties were on their way soon enough.

Adrian kept his pace as he stared at all the wonders of Beacon. The Santego Military Base was situated in a canyon region in Arizona so all he could see were shades of orange, red and yellow among other things, as well as dry and heated conditions which Adrian admitted to himself he missed.

Beacon Academy was much different however. The greenery complimented the white-painted architecture, the commotion of students, possibly returning from their initiation gave the academy life it couldn't have. Approaching the Main Avenue which was flocked with to-be students, he could hear conversations about normal things. This warmed Adrian, especially after what Black Mesa had done to him.

 _Black Mesa_ , he would never forget that place, even with this new life ahead of him. The aliens, Black Operations, the death of all those innocent scientists and guards, the death of his HECU brothers who had sacrificed their lives for him, or those he couldn't protect. _That damn bomb, fucking nuke._ Adrian clenched his teeth. That failure would haunt him forever. He would make whoever activated it go through endless pain.

Adrian only realised he was standing still in a sea of teens. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he continued walking forward to meet this Professor Oobleck. Among the crowd, he had attempted to look for Ruby and Weiss, maybe even Jaune and Pyrrha, but there were nowhere, maybe they'd come later.

Seeing the statue in the Main Avenue, which had some people on a rock outcropping, with a Beowolf below them. _Humans triumph in the end and Grimm shall not, I see._ Adrian paced forward, seeing a green-haired man with unkempt clothes, he had a mug like Ozpin but took a sip from the cup ever two seconds. _Wow, talk about an addiction._

Another man stood beside him. He was quite plump to say the least, and had grey hair and a finely kept moustache. He also was much more formal with his clothing than the green-haired man. Both smiled at Adrian as they made their way towards him.

"And you, my brave man, must be Adrian Shephard!" The plump one sung, "I am Professor Peter Port, and I am impressed by such bravery as yours!"

"Uhm, thanks?" The green-haired man then sped in front of Port, maybe even teleported with how fast he had gone.

"You must be Shephard! The mysterious soldier who suddenly appeared in the Emerald Forest! Professor Bartholomew Oobleck at your service! Mind if I ask you a few questions?" He spouted out, Adrian stepped back, mildly startled.

"After, you take me where Ozpin assigned you to accompany me to." Adrian commented, pointing a finger, "But it's a damn pleasure to meet the both of you."

"The pleasure is all mine!" Port straightened himself and smiled.

"Yes yes, my apologies." Oobleck nodded and allowed Adrian to follow him and Port to wherever they needed to go.

Adrian had noticed the horde of teens had nearly gone, or even disappeared as most entered the Main Avenue's gate. Port greeted the new to-be students with confidence while Oobleck grinned. Adrian just sighed, tired of standing around for so long. He could hear Port's distinct voice telling a trio of his exploits. They sounded far-fetched but considering Adrian had no idea about the Grimm at all, he'd have to believe it for now.

"Truth be told, most of those stories aren't real at all. But they're a treat to listen to, wouldn't you say?" Oobleck took a gulp from his mug while Adrian shrugged, he didn't know Port that much so he couldn't make any empty assumptions.

"Fair enough," Oobleck looked at Port, now clearly distracted with telling his stories to the passing huntsmen and huntresses in training. Oobleck shook his head, but chuckled too, "Well, I'll send a message through his Scroll of our departure, he'll be with us soon after."

"Scroll?" Adrian questioned. There was Grimm and Dust, huntsmen and huntresses, and now Scrolls? He expected an actual scroll from what Oobleck had told him but catching onto his 'message through his Scroll', he must have been talking about a phone of some sort.

"A question to be answered once we get to my office." Oobleck waved a hand for Adrian to follow him as they went on their way.

The two entered the gate as the full landscape of Beacon Academy revealed itself. Adrian continued to look around astonished by the size of this supposed school. Oobleck on the other hand, decided to talk of the history of Beacon Academy, with the mention of being one of the best huntsman and huntress academies in Remnant.

If Beacon Academy really was one of the best academies, Adrian had his work cut out for him. He was a good soldier, but was below Black Operation's standards, just the cannon fodder of the U.S Special Forces before the best arrived. Considering he didn't have an Aura at all and these kids had strength that could outmatch even the best of America's government forces, Adrian knew he'd have to do some learning, even if he was already out of his schooling days.

The mention of Remnant also surprised him, so he really wasn't on some weird and twisted version of Earth, but a different planet entirely. Adrian wished he would be on Earth right now, at least he'd have some sort of chance, but he was out-matched and sure to die here if he wasn't careful.

Soon approaching Oobleck's office, he opened the door before shutting it quickly. "Ahem, excuse me for some time Mr. Shephard, I need to… fix a few things."

"What? I'm not going to judge you for anything. Just let me in my legs could fracture themselves if I keep on with this." Adrian grunted out as he looked to his legs in instinct.

"If you insist." Oobleck pushed the door open lightly as he and Adrian went inside. Desperately looking for a seat, he saw one at the front of what was to be presumed as Oobleck's desk. Sitting down, he sighed in relaxation as he finally could stop all this standing. He took the time to survey Oobleck's office, it was interesting as most things were in this place.

The shelves that stood on the sidelines had books organized into neat rows, each labelled with a subject, from 'Grimm' to a strange new term, 'Faunus'. He had a cupboard that housed several mugs of different qualities, even coffees and cocoas arranged under it.

Oobleck's desk was messy, as to be expected. Papers littered the upper face and two mugs sat on the sides, far away from spilling onto any important papers of worth. A lamp was placed onto the right of Adrian's seat and a pendulum was on the left, swinging softly as an awkward silence filled the room.

The most notable thing in Oobleck's room however, was a hastily set-up TV which sat upon a small coffee table. There seemed to be some game stuck on a pause menu. Too anyone on Remnant, it seemed like any normal game. But to Adrian, he already knew what Oobleck had been up to.

"Did you just use my PS2 to play Transformers?" Specifically, Oobleck had made an attempt to beat Starscream, something Adrian also could not do. "Heh, Transformers: Armada was one of my guilty pleasures during my time at my boot camp." He admitted.

"I see." Oobleck then nodded to himself before continuing. "Now, if you don't know what I do, I am Beacon's professor in history. Ozpin had your crates given to a specific professor for study. Port has your weapons and ammunition, Peach has the crate of whatever was inside, and I, your personal belongings."

Adrian narrowed his eyes, he would seriously give Oobleck an ass-whooping if he decided to look through his diary or his more personal items. The professor noticed this and coughed. "Don't worry, I only took what interested me, your personal history does not. For now, anyway." Adrian 'humphed' in response. Oobleck continued.

"I've taken most of the games along with the movies and they all interest me greatly. None of them have been recorded in the kingdom's databases along with the CCT. Tell me, these ones interest me a lot." Oobleck proceeded to open a drawer and take out the original Star Wars movies. "Care to explain?"

"Those DVDs," Adrian had gotten very serious, startling Oobleck who didn't expect this. "Those DVDs, are some of the best things I've seen. God bless George Lucas." He leaned back onto his chair and Oobleck stared blankly.

Oobleck voiced his other interests "Now how about th-

By the time Oobleck had brought the entirety of the DVD case into view. Adrian had snatched it away gaining a yelp from the professor. Quickly opening the case, he extracted the DVD itself before breaking it in half and expertly throwing it into a distant bin.

Oobleck was quite angered by Adrian's actions. "But that Feli-

"Shut it doc," Adrian ordered, "Just be glad you didn't see the contents of the damn thing." Noticing the boiling anger, Oobleck obliged and decided to lighten the mood by taking out the games instead.

The next few hours with Oobleck had Adrian explain the DVDs and games which Oobleck took interest in, noting down some of his words. In turn, Adrian had asked the professor about some of the new unfamiliar terms, of which Oobleck also explained in detail. His talk about the Faunus had him most interested.

The Faunus, humans with animalistic traits, from tails to ears and even claws. Subjected to racism due to their traits, Adrian was ashamed at such a fact, the racism made no sense at all, especially if the Humans and Faunus could work together to benefit them both. _Almost like the HECU and Freeman._ Adrian thought to himself.

"Got everything Oobleck?" Adrian asked.

"Yes, yes I have." Oobleck closed his notebook. "Hmm, strange, Port hasn't come yet."

"Maybe somewhere else." Adrian suggested.

Suddenly, Oobleck's Scroll rung with him excusing himself as he went outside to take the call. Adrian took some of this down-time to consider his dilemma again. Stuck in a new world with no way to contact Earth at all, basically broke thanks to Remnant using a currency called 'Lien', out-matched in every way and sure to die and he wasn't sure if he would disclose what happened in Black Mesa or keep it to himself. No one should ever go through the experience like that. Ever.

Oobleck burst through the door calmly as he grinned. "Mr. Shephard, Headmaster Ozpin requires your attention. Please, let me take you to his office." Adrian grunted in agreeance and both exited from Oobleck's office, and on their way to Ozpin's. Eventually reaching the door to his office, Adrian was confused. Oobleck had clearly told him this was the CCT.

"Isn't this the CCT?" Adrian titled his head.

"Well yes, but Ozpin's office is just up above." Adrian 'humphed' again, impressed with Ozpin's stature in this academy. The two both entered the tower with the workers greeting the professor, and some reluctant to speak with Adrian. They soon reached the elevator, and the few final steps to Ozpin's office.

"So," Oobleck coughed as the elevator doors closed. "Enjoying Beacon?"

Adrian shrugged, "Impressive, but I got to know the place a little more I guess."

"Hmm, I see." Oobleck awkwardly paused before continuing. "I do hope you get to stay you're an interesting man."

"Thanks for the thought, I guess." Adrian nodded as the doors opened. Both stepped out and were greeted by both Ozpin and Goodwitch who had taken their place a few metres from them.

"Mr. Shephard, a pleasure to see you. Please, take a seat and let's have that discussion I was talking about." He offered the seat that was in front of his desk. "And Oobleck, you may stay for the meanwhile, I have the distinct feeling I'll need you for something later."

Oobleck sat down at one of the couches on the sides while Adrian made his way to Ozpin's offered chair, Glynda gave him a hard and cold stare, which Adrian ignored as he sat down and got himself comfortable. He also had a distinct feeling this wasn't going to go well.

"Now that we are finally here, I wanted to ask," Ozpin put down his mug, "I presume you received your training from Atlas, correct?"

Adrian paused reluctantly to think, _I could cross off the risk of them finding out I'm from another world, but at the same time that'd caused more risks too, if the Atlesian military have their own chain of command. Furthermore, if I tell them I'm from another dimension entirely, I can gain their trust and earn myself some leverage, but that'd put more attention on me too…_

Adrian sighed, "Sir, if I could. Promise me what I'm about to say stays between the professors only?"

Ozpin closed his eyes to ponder as well, then opened them smiling. "You chose to save my students without a second thought, so I will listen, and there will be no judgement."

"Good." Adrian nodded, then coughed for the long explanation ahead. "Never trained in Atlas, was trained by Drill Instructors Dwight T. Barnes and Sharpe in the Santego Military Base. Located in Arizona, west of New Mexico." Adrian started.

"Arizona and New Mexico…" Ozpin 'hmmed' before continuing. "I would say these are simply places in Vacuo, but that is very unlikely."

"Correct," Adrian clapped his hands lightly, complimenting Ozpin's nature. "What if I were to say… I'm not from Remnant?"

"That it would be highly far-fetched, but not possible." Ozpin smirked.

"Preposterous! So, you're saying you're from another planet?! Dimension?! Ozpin this man is clearly spewing lies!" Goodwitch inputted.

"I agree with Ozpin! If you are from another dimension or even planet entirely, this could change the whole of Remnant!" Oobleck shouted in the background.

Adrian chuckled, "At least some people believe me," Raising his eyes at Goodwitch who simply looked away. The professors were pleasantly amused when Adrian proceeded to unlatch the gas-mask from his face and remove his helmet, revealing the man underneath it.

Adrian was quite young for a soldier with his experience, only 4 years older than most huntsman and huntresses in training. He had slick black hair that had clearly been cut down to the bare minimum. His eyes sagged, clearly, he was tired from his arrival and his face held a constant scowl no matter what emotion he conveyed.

"Here," Adrian handed over his helmet and mask to Ozpin, "Don't know if Remnant's technology is compatible to mine, but let's just do what we can. USB port's on the helmet's side, linked to some software that connects to the mask's in-built heads-up display."

Ozpin examined both helmet and mask, before finding the necessary port and fishing out his Scroll. Plugging them both together using a USB wire, his Scroll's screen suddenly shifted into a menu with the HECU logo on the bottom right:

 **[INTERFACING…]**

 **[…]**

 **[…]**

 **[…]**

 **[INTERFACING COMPLETE!]**

 **[DESTROY FOOTAGE]**

 **[REVIEW FOOTAGE]**

 **[UPLOAD** **FOOTAGE]**

 **[HELP]**

 **[EXIT]**

Choosing the 'Upload Footage' option, the screen opened to another, this one being a little less morale-boosting than most:

 **[PROCESS HINDERED, ABORTING UNLOCK SEQUENCE!]**

 **[AUTHORISATION REQUIRED:]**

 _ **FACIAL RECOGNITION**_

 _ **PASSWORD REQUIREMENT**_

 **[PLEASE CHOOSE AN OPTION BEFORE CONTINUING!]**

 **:CONTINUE:**

Ozpin chose the 'Facial Recognition' option and continued before sliding the Scroll to Adrian. "If you could mind?" He asked. Adrian shrugged and let the Scroll do its magic, or whatever it did before the screen switched to the next:

 **[AUTHORISATION COMPLETE, WELCOME: CORPORAL ADRIAN SHEPHARD]**

 **[UPLOAD TO "OZPIN'S SCROLL"?]**

 **:YES:**

 **:NO:**

Ozpin chose 'Yes'. Now it was just the waiting to get through:

 **[UPLOADING…]**

 **[…]**

 **[…]**

 **[…]**

 **[UPLOADING COMPLETE, CLOSING MENU NOW…]**

With the upload complete, Ozpin disconnected the wire and went through his Scroll's flies, giving Adrian his mask and helmet beforehand, eventually finding the footage he and Goodwitch had been looking for. Ozpin made sure to check through the extra information before the video player popped up.

Adrian along with Ozpin and Goodwitch saw what presumed to be Adrian looking around. The environment was unfamiliar to the natives, but Adrian knew that this was the moment where he had gotten a discarded PCV and gas-mask inside Black Mesa.

The footage continued, with Adrian confronting a man who was inspecting a corpse. Some weird creature had latched itself to its head and the arms had shrivelled up horribly, with the hands becoming claws. The most degrading thing was that the chest had completely blew up, showing all the insides in a grotesque state.

Ozpin had ushered Oobleck to also inspect the footage as the three professors heard what he had to say.

 **" _Have you ever seen such a magnificent species? These… crabs can completely control their host's nervous system. Can you imagine what the next stage of mutation looks like?"_**

"Hmm, interesting he put his work over other lives." Ozpin blankly said.

Goodwitch was disgusted by the man's behaviour. "I have to agree with you Ozpin, these men are just disrespecting the victim's demise. He should be remembered and given some sort of burial, not have his body be probed and examined."

"Certainly interesting! If these crabs control the nervous system entirely they must be a parasite of some sort! But what a poor shame to the victim indeed…" Oobleck uttered, mixed with intrigue and sorrow.

"Yeah, how interesting indeed." Adrian growled sarcastically. Goodwitch caught onto this and was indeed very mad.

"Excuse you?! You have no right be disrespecting a profe-

"Glynda." Ozpin stopped her before she could bark some sense into the soldier. He pointed to the body, but more especially, the clothes had on. Her face grew from annoyed to regret in an instant.

"Oh…" Goodwitch had realised that the victim was one of the HECU. Oobleck had hit a personal spot on Adrian with Goodwitch defending Oobleck too. "I was too quick to fully consider it. I'm sorry Adrian, it must be hard losing brothers-in-arms like that."

"It is," Adrian took a breather. "We have a motto: "Never leave another Marine for dead, or you'll be a dead man yourself." When the HECU evacuated, only a few decided to or could leave. Many others stuck with their friends until they died or couldn't get out in time."

Goodwitch audibly swore to herself, Oobleck shook his head in disbelief for himself and Ozpin wore a morose look on his face.

"I presume now this is enough proof that you are indeed, from another dimension." Ozpin looked at the two professors flanking his sides.

"Of course, we must look into this more. We could find ourselves looking at something quite dangerous." Oobleck suggested.

"I agree. But this begs the question. Adrian, how did you get here exactly?" Goodwitch requested.

"I honestly have no clue. But this suited guy, called himself the G-Man, sent me here." Adrian answered.

"And why is that so?" Ozpin asked.

"To protect it," Adrian stated. "Watch over it to make sure nothing will go wrong. I've already fucked up, I don't want that happening again…" Adrian scrunched his face in anger. _Fucking nuke…_

Ozpin smiled, Adrian looked at the man appalled. "Mr. Shephard, I think I have the perfect job, or profession for you."

Goodwitch shot a look at Ozpin, clearly scared. "Ozpin, you're not thinking…"

"I am Glynda, I am." Ozpin called back. "Adrian, how would you like to become a Huntsman?"

"Become a full-fledged Huntsman? Not even some formal training beforehand?" Adrian scratched his head in bewilderment.

"There will be formal training, with both academic and combat. But we believe that with the skillset the HECU has trained you into, you exceed the students in many factors, apart from Aura and Semblance." Goodwitch bumped into the conversation once again.

"Any other perks I should know?" Adrian pondered openly.

"You will receive your own Scroll, and the use of the academy facilities. All necessities you need will be paid by the academy, in exchange of your skills to be put into good use during personally assigned missions." Ozpin answered.

"You're a saviour Ozpin," Adrian cheered internally, "Least it solves that problem. But can I ask for one thing?"

Ozpin nodded, "Be my guest."

"Private place, just for me and me only. If your friend Port's already gone through my weapons I expect the Spore Launcher and Barnacle Grapple gave him a surprise." Adrian let out a grunt thinking about it.

"It will be arranged, although you will need to sleep somewhere for the night. I've already called up a student to take you somewhere adequate." Ozpin took his mug and swallowed the contents. "You may leave now, I will call you again when the professors have reviewed your footage."

Oobleck gave out a hand for Adrian to shake, of which the marine did. Goodwitch coughed, gaining Adrian's attention. "Mr. Shephard, please do not make any trouble that I will have to fix." The two went into an intense staring contest, until Adrian smiled.

"Don't worry Goodwitch, if there's trouble, I'll be the one walking into it. Unintentionally of course." Adrian patted Goodwitch on the back, which caused the professor to shift away.

The three looked on as Adrian left for the elevator with his hands in his pockets. As he was inside, he put his gas-mask and helmet back on and faced to the professors, giving a quick 'goodbye' in the form of a wave before the elevator doors shut tightly, bring the soldier back down to more suitable levels. Rubbing his temples, Ozpin lifted himself from the chair.

"I'll be pondering about our current predicament. Glynda, inform Port and Peach to come immediately. Their input would be most welcomed with the footage we now have."

None of them knew what terrible events would unfold, the failure of Black Mesa, all conveniently given to a very powerful man and his accomplices.

* * *

 ***CCT Tower, Beacon Academy***

Night had finally shown itself to Remnant, and to Adrian. No light was powerful enough to rid of the stars that were placed among the skies. He always loved looking up, thinking of what was beyond all of it. His friends had gotten him into space, and they all made wacked theories of aliens and inhabitable planets. It seemed too far, but possible to experience these things.

That was until Black Mesa happened.

Aliens became real, maybe even entire planets. But there was no friendly interaction and adrenaline rush of landing on something entirely extra-terrestrial.

Only the screams of terrified or confident marines and unfamiliar dread as the aliens ripped apart the facility and everyone into pieces. Xen, then what the scientists had dubbed "Race X".

Adrian shook his head, he was in a new world where these things never happened. _I shouldn't be crying over spilt milk; just enjoy the fact I have a new start._ He looked towards where he was heading to, the Beacon Dorms, then to the student who was accompanying him to the dorms.

Velvet Scarlatina, a second-year student, or to be more accurate, an absolutely shy second-year student. She was currently in Beacon Academy's uniform and was clearly nervous around Adrian. When Adrian had gotten outside to meet her, she had yelped at his unfamiliar attire and shakenly helped Adrian to the dorms.

"Kids." Adrian muttered under his breath. "Velvet, is this because of your Faunus heritage?" Velvet had a pair of rabbit ear on her head, and considering what Oobleck had told him about the Faunus, he understood.

Velvet jumped, dumbstruck at this uneducated answer. "O-of course not! It's j-just that-

"I look like a scary son of a gun." Adrian fully laughed, scaring Velvet significantly. "You should've seen me the first time I introduced myself, had a scared little girl and a rapier pointed to my neck."

"Oh, that's unfortunate…" It was cold, and Velvet attempted to keep herself warm. "Cold… night. Isn't it?" Velvet said, needing to spark a not-so awkward conversation.

"It is," Adrian whistled, acknowledging the temperature. "I trained in sweltering places, cold isn't a thing where I came from."

Velvet softly smiled. "Are you from Vacuo then?"

"Y-yeah I am." Another lie, he didn't need his identity spilled to people he barely knew.

"Nice." Velvet turned away from Adrian, the two locked into an awkward situation where neither could speak to one another.

Velvet went red. _Oh, I'm embarrassing myself so badly, where's Coco when you need her?_

Adrian started humming a tune. _This is nice, nothing going on at all. Definitely, completely, nothing is happening that is awkward at all._

Adrian stopped. Velvet noticed and turned to him confused. Adrian simply pointed opposite of where she was facing. "These are the dorms, right?"

Velvet turned, they were at their destination and she had done an abysmal job at being a welcoming guest. "U-uh, um, y-yes we're here! Finally! L-let's go before it gets colder." Adrian shrugged as the two made their way inside.

The dorms overwhelmed Adrian with a sense of comfort, like a cuddly toy bear that was in major need of hugging. Noting that this was a place were teenagers had their fun and did their things, Adrian was quite blessed with the familiarity it brought, of all his friends at boot camp. It warmed him from the freeze outside.

It was a shame his friend we're all dead though.

Adrian shook his head and took a breather. If the G-Man had given him a path better than the last, he had to respect that by welcoming it. He had the feeling he would be here for a while anyway, no Earth, no crazy cover-ups and especially, no killer aliens. It felt good.

Focusing back on where he was heading, Velvet had held herself near a door, presumably a dorm for him. He opened the door to take a quick look, then closed it again, content with what little he had seen.

"Well, before you go, I just wanted to say something." Adrian turned to Velvet and rested himself on a wall.

"S-sure! What about?" Velvet politely asked.

"Just wanted to clear up some dust in the air. Firstly," He crossed his arms. "Do you think of me as a Faunus hater?"

Velvet was aghast, she wanted to run but her legs refused so she stood her ground. "Wha-

Adrian put his finger up, Velvet saw it as a sign to shut up and listen. Adrian sighed, "Velvet, just be honest, please. Liars where I'm from tend to be beaten up or 'exiled' from everyone."

"W-well…" Velvet stuttered, nervous of the outcome of what she was going to say. "Well, I don't think you as a r-racist, but Coco's always told me to be wary of strangers. They tend to not be as nice as they look. Not to mention I have a few bullies that are picking on me…"

Adrian stayed silent and Velvet was ready to sprint if he had taken offense to what she had just admitted. It only really made her want to do just that when Adrian laughed, clapping his hands slowly and lightly.

"This Coco, she taught you well Velvet. You should always be wary, and I say that's a good thing considering what I've had to go through." He had a quick thought of Race X's intervention, but shook it off and let Velvet speak.

"W-wait, you're not mad. At all?" The bunny girl questioned.

"Why should I be? Only a dumbass with their shrivelled brain up their ass would get mad when you say things like that." Adrian blankly mused. "Besides, now that you said this, can I just admit something too?"

"S-sure."

"I would love to be a Faunus, just the truth. I heard about their traits and all that. Imagine me being a bear Faunus with razor-sharp claws and night-vision. Man, I'm sure I'd love it."

Velvet was shocked, mixed feelings of happiness and fear welled up inside her. "Bu-

"Shut it for a sec Velvet," Adrian saw Velvet shut, he continued. "I know about the racism between Humans and Faunus, and it's pretty bad stuff. I'd say Remnant's fucked if the two don't learn to co-operate. I'll put it bluntly, racists really need to get their fingers out of their eyes and see the good in people like you, and all Faunus too."

"But Ad-

"It's hard, I wouldn't know but it must be." Adrian interrupted her sentence again. "People say this a lot, it takes little effort to fight, but it takes sheer willpower to ignore it all. I assume with these bullies tagging you, you've been keeping quiet?"

"Yes. I have. But they're new here, first-years too. I believe they're a team called CRDL." Velvet looked down ashamed.

"You're a good kid Velvet. These wack-jobs pick on you because you're not as sociable as others and being a Faunus too, but hey you there in time. And it doesn't hurt to smack some sense into others, if push comes to shove, you'll be the better person if you just keep pushing, because the shovers tend to be… idiots."

Adrian placed her hand on Velvet's shoulder which had her face tint red. "If they come back for, just don't bother, hard to talk sense into bullies anyway. Words are better than actions in all honesty, so use that."

Adrian went to open the door to his temporary abode. Before he could get in however, Velvet held onto Adrian's arm and he looked back to see why. Velvet had a tear running down her right eye.

"Thank you so much Adrian," She sniffed. "I was nervous before, but I'm glad I met you."

"No worries Velvet, you've got good intentions despite your not-so-good sociability. I can get behind that."

A question clicked in Velvet's mind, I could be touchy but Adrian was competent enough to answer without a harsh remark.

"How… do you know all this, handling bullies?"

Adrian gently pushed her hand away from his arm, he looked back at the girl. Velvet could see his eyes… they were quite friendly to say the least, but she felt a hint of remorse in them.

"I dealt with some. I know the pain all too well."

Velvet stood back as the door closed. Something unexpected had happened, but she was sure this new arrival would change Beacon quite a bit with his presence.

* * *

 ***Ozpin's Office, Beacon Academy***

 **" _Why do we always have to clean up a mess the grunts can't handle?"_**

 **" _Tell me about it. I just wanna deliver the package and get out of here."_**

 **" _Yeah. Sooner or later the grunts are gonna figure it out."_**

 **" _God damn it! Be careful with that thing! One false move and this whole facility is gone!"_**

 **" _I've got it covered, I'm not stupid. You just keep your eyes open, there are still some targets running around out there, especially Freeman and Shephard."_**

The conglomerate that was Ozpin, Goodwitch, Port, Oobleck and Peach had their eyes stuck onto the screen as they watched what Adrian had whispered in the footage as "Black Operations" conversing before he rushed out of his hiding place to fight them.

 **" _Get down! I hea-_**

The soldier was too late to say anything else as Adrian shoved his combat knife into his throat, the gurgling of the dying soldier replaced with a loud shot as Adrian whipped out his Desert Eagle and blew a hole into the other's head.

 **" _Contact! HECU! Take him down!"_**

Black Ops soldiers surrounded him left and right, but Adrian was ready. Pulling the pin of a grenade, he threw it to the left where three soldiers panicked.

 **" _Oh shi-_**

The grenade blew into a flaming ball of heat instantly, destroying and burning any Black Ops in its vicinity as their gibs flew in a bloody wonder. Using the body of the Black Ops with the cut throat, he swung it to the right where his attackers sprayed their bullets, ripping into their former living comrade and into Adrian, although most of the PCV took the damage.

 **" _Don't let him escape! Command wants all dead, just kill the fucker!"_**

 **" _This grunt's putting up a fight!"_**

 **" _Then fight harder! If we can kill a few of them with no setbacks, then this one just needs the special treatment!"_**

 **" _Copy, full force soldiers!"_**

Adrian threw the body at them and ducked behind a crate. Taking out his M16, he peeked above and fired at the remaining Black Ops as their bodies fell on by one, occasionally getting back under cover to reload. One soldier had a grenade propelled towards him as his body separated itself.

Adrian waited or the gunfire to end before lifting himself from the crate. He walked up to a soldier with bullet wounds around his body and gave the dead man a swift kick.

 **" _ **I** don't know what Black Operations is doing here. But I'm not here to die, nor is my team, never." _**

Ozpin paused the video and rubbed his temples, Goodwitch was taken aback by such death. Port looked solemn, Oobleck cleaned his glasses and sighed and Peach was the worst out of them, with her slowly crying as she pieced together Adrian's handiwork during his time at this facility.

They had seen all of it. All the pain Adrian had inside him was shown in this footage. Adrian after waking up, had found his team had died due to the aliens that had suddenly appeared. One scientist was helpful enough to explain that the aliens came through an event called a "Resonance Cascade" which he elaborated on, and that they had overrun the facility soon after.

Thus, began Adrian's journey, first beginning with him heading towards a supposed extraction point, meeting the aliens overrunning the facility and one security guard who met a terrible fate by electrocution. Adrian reached a radio that broadcasted one message: **"Attention to all marines! We are pulling out of Black Mesa!"**

The battle for power was turning to the alien's favour as Shephard raced to escape lest he get abandoned and left for dead. In his troubles, he and the professors saw new aliens not even known to the Black Mesa staff. But the most troubling thing was the guard that Adrian encountered. Otis:

 ** _"Mmm, candy."_**

All the professors, even Footage Adrian were dumbfounded at the guard's actions. A whole facility falling apart and lives being taken every second, and one single man decides that candy was the most important thing on his list?!

 **" _Stupid machines! Why don't these ever seem to work?"_**

 **" _Ummmm…"_**

 **" _Hey ya, you wouldn't have a quarter I can borrow, would ya?"_**

 **" _No, but I can help you get out of here."_**

 **" _Fair enough! Name's Otis, and you are?"_**

 **" _Adrian, now let's go Otis. We've got more important things to do."_**

They trekked forward, reaching a scientist and his security guard conversing:

 **" _Have you seen the new IG88?"_**

 ** _No I haven't, but a friend of mine-_**

 **" _W-what is that thing?! What the hell?!"_**

 **" _I don't know, I've never seen that species before!"_**

 **" _Don't worry sir I can take 'em! Argh! Urk!"_**

 **" _No! NO! PLEASE! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! AAAAAAAAAAAH!"_**

 **" _Those poor bastards, we couldn't save them…"_** Otis said, sad to see a guard and his scientist go.

Despite this scene, Adrian and Otis pushed forward and reached a room, where a single scientist yelped at Adrian breaking the glass, it wasn't bullet-proof, good. Otis had gone to unlock a locker with some supplies:

 ** _"Oh no. You are one of the… them. Can't we just get along?"_**

 **" _Don't worry, I won't hurt you."_**

 **" _What about your other friends, they killed all mine."_**

 **" _But, why?"  
_**

 **" _I don't know. But I do know that now we can't rely on them for rescue."_**

 **" _God damn it all. Otis, I'm going to need a favour."_**

 **" _What's up partner?"_**

 **" _If what the guy saying is true, you're no longer safe with me. Take him and get out of here before the HECU come. Find your own way out."_**

 **" _But-_**

 **" _Just go, get out of here. No more death, not on my watch."_**

 **" _G-good luck then, Adrian. Our friendship was short."_**

 **"** _ **Glad you see me as a friend Otis, see you someday."**  
_  
Otis and the scientist picked themselves up and left:

 **" _I… know they won't make it. They just won't. But I want them too. Stay safe you two."_**

Adrian shook his head and grabbed the things in the locker Otis unlocked before moving, eventually rallying to the extraction point where they found a man relaying a message:

 **" _Come in Cooper! Do you copy?! Forget about Freeman! We're abandoning the base! If you have any last bomb targets, mark them on the Tactical Map! Otherwise, get the hell outta there! Repeat: we are pulling out and commencing air strikes! Give us targets or get below! Come on and respond Cooper!"_**

They saw Adrian continue on, and see a marine abusing a hapless scientist:

 **" _Where's Freeman! I know you know where that maniac is!"_**

 **" _I-I don't know what you're talking about! I don't know where he is!"_**

 **" _Liar! Tell me or get a bullet through the head!"_**

Adrian intervened, placing a hand on his shoulder and shaking some sense into him:

" ** _Come on! He doesn't know anything! Just let him go and let's get out of here!"_**

 **" _No please, please don't leave us here!"_**

 **" _You don't get to leave, dirtbag!"_**

 **" _He can't what?! Why not?!"_**

 **" _Didn't you hear Corporal? We've been sent to kill everyone here and even we can't do that anymore! Aliens are god damn everywhere!"_**

To say the least, everyone was shocked and horrified, apart from Ozpin who kept himself level and Adrian who had somewhat knew beforehand. Adrian could've become a merciless killer had he received the command to. His crash looked like some sort of blessing in disguise at this point.

They could hear Adrian mumble on about how "this was some messed up bullshit" as a gunshot rang. They all flinched, knowing it was the scientist receiving that bullet.

The marines fled alongside Adrian, who was right behind them. But as he was about to make it, the door to the Osprey was suddenly closing and Adrian had no time to get through as it shut fully. Adrian roared as he slammed his fist onto the door's window, watching as the Osprey took off. Strangely he had made it look like he was looking at something else.

With Adrian now trapped in Black Mesa, he ventured forward and went deeper into the facility, fighting against what the scientists had called 'Vortigaunts' and what Adrian had coined 'Headcrab Zombies' and 'Gonomes' as well as watching the Xen flora overtake the environment which interested Peach.

They watched on as Adrian reached more familiar environments. Reaching a supply truck, they saw a marine collapse in pain clearly dying from his injuries. Adrian checked him, but it was already too late.

 **" _You've got to get out of here! Listen to me Shephard! Those… things! They'll kill all of us! Just keep fucking running!"_**

The room was filled with condolences for Shephard as he watched a comrade fall. Adrian was taking it quite personally as he kicked the ground in rage. It was crystal that being a Corporal wasn't an easy task, considering the HECU were spread thin.

Adrian ripped out the HECU soldier's dogtags and took what he needed before continuing, hardening himself after his comrade's death. It was here Adrian and the professors met a new species of alien of whom Adrian called "Pit Drones".

Going room by room to clear them out and make a path, they encountered a lone scientist huddled in a corner, the only thing separating him from the Pit Drones were a table and some boxes.

 **" _I don't know what's worse, you soldiers under orders to silence the facility or these vile aliens!"_**

 **" _God, damn it, I'm not to silence anyone! I just want answers to what the fuck is going on in this place!"_**

 **" _I'll tell you what happened! These aliens along with your men started killing everyone on sight! And not to mention these new aliens even we don't know about! We're defenceless here! I knew those guards were nothing but useless space!"_**

 **" _Then come with me then, hiding her isn't worth anything. And you can answer some questions too. We both want to get out of here, right?"_**

 **" _No, I prefer I stay here. It's safe and no one will get to me. I don't need a mindless killing machine following me around."_**

 **" _You're not going to last ja-_**

 **" _I said leave! I clearly don't want to go, so leave!"_**

Adrian was defeated and kicked a box, the stress clearly getting to him. Ozpin watched on while the rest shook their heads dismissively. _You have a semblance of a chance to be saved, yet you don't take it because you think you're superior to everyone!_ Goodwitch mused to herself as Adrian walked away from the egotistic scientist.

The travelling was fairly calm after the meeting with the scientists, with the random Headcrab here and there, nothing a few bullets couldn't kill. After more walking and shooting. Adrian and the professors found a displaced tile that led to a hiding place. Taking the ladder down, a scientist was on their left. The professors scrunched up. Scientists weren't the moralistic type of people in Black Mesa.

 **" _Hello there! When all the fighting started, I hid myself here. I don't think any of them above have survived."_**

 **" _Glad you did, apparently HECU issued the order to kill everyone here. It's fucking ridiculous."_**

 **" _O-oh my, I hope you didn't come to kill me, have you?"_**

 **" _No sir, I never received the orders thus I won't follow them. Besides, I have morals unlike the shitty people I've been meeting."_**

 **" _T-thank you. What should I do now? I can't just stay here."_**

 **" _You can't come with me, soldier's kill you on sight. I'm afraid you're stuck here until a guard comes here. I'm sorry."_**

 **" _Don't fret. It's safe here anyway, I can leave once the noise dissipates."_**

 **" _Then stay safe… Dr. Alexander Barthomo."_**

 **" _Likewise… Corporal Adrian Shephard."_**

Adrian left Alexander's safe space and soldiered on. Finding a wire and clambering on, Adrian climbed himself in another intersection in the hallways when a voice rang out:

 **" _Squad! Quiet down!"_**

Adrian had attempted to use the elevator access terminal, but it backfired and exploded before he could do anything. He decided to bang on the remaining maintenance door, gaining the attention of the squad on the other side:

 **" _The current situation is looking pretty gri- Hold on someone's on the other side, don't open it! Could be those damn aliens!"_**

 **" _Do I sound like an alien to you?!"_**

 ** _Corporal Shephard?! We've been left behind as well. We're onto your position now, stand back from the maintenance door, we're gonna blow it!"_**

Adrian took cover behind a table as the door blew itself open, revealing two HECU soldiers on the other side. Getting up, he went to greet them:

 **" _Shephard! Looks like someone really screwed up Corporal! Seems the brass bit off more than they could chew. Spread out thin and low chance we're making it out of here."_**

 **" _Yeah! Well forget about Freeman! We gotta save our own asses. Government's abandoned us and we don't need to follow orders anymore!"_**

 **" _You with us Corporal? We could use some leadership."_**

 **" _Glad to always help you two, and any of my fellows. Let's just get out of here. No more killing unless we have to, we're on our own now."_**

 **" _Moving out Corporal!"_**

 **" _Let's get the hell out of here!"_**

Heading back to the intersection, one of them took out a blowtorch and smiled, walking towards the elevator access door:

 **" _Stand back Corporal, this'll only take a minute."_**

 **" _I didn't get your names. Identify."_**

 **" _Private Calico Jones, the one on the door is Lance Corporal Elihah Debon."_**

 **" _Alright, keep on lookout you two. Calico you're up front with me. Elihah, check our six."_**

 **" _Got it!"_**

 **" _Sure, after I take this door down!"_**

The door was kicked down by Elihah and the three made it into the elevator. As soon as it opened, Vortigaunts attacked their position. But with Adrian's leadership the three were unstoppable as they tore through each one with ease, with some of the aliens even running away at their prowess.

The professors we're impressed with the HECU's skills, especially Calico who shot down Vorties left and right considering his rank as a Private. Provided, they had PCVs which took some of the brute force the aliens were packing but even without them they at least exceeded a first-year team and an Atlesian squad.

"I'm glad Adrian is on our side…" Goodwitch stated, earning nods from the other professors.

"Quite Glynda, quite." Ozpin watched blankly at the playing footage.

The three continued on, killing anything that threatened them with death. At one point, they had to swing towards a fallen walkway. Adrian and Elihah had breezed through it but Calico had nearly met his end after miscalculating his jump until Adrian grabbed him by the arm and hoisted him up.

 **" _Thanks sir."_**

 **" _Don't worry Private, I just want us to get out of here alive, all of us."_**

They continued on, eventually finding a room to restock. Adrian walked towards a radio and got the right frequency as it relayed a message:

 **" _Mayday! Mayday! Anyone copy?! This is Tango Charlie… and we are under attack. Repeat! Black Operators… immediately! Over!"_**

 **" _Black Operations? Why are they attacking us? We'd be working together in this, wouldn't we…?"_**

 **" _Black Operations?! Damn bastards are killing our own!"_** Elihah roared.

 **"** _ **This is messed up! First day fighting and I'm stuck here!"** _Calico put his hands on his head, worried of their predicament.

 **"** _ **Come on Calico, if you die, I'll give those Black Ops a new one."** _Adrian seethed.

The group continued forward, finding a massive hole that led upwards, where a Medic was angrily kicking a door. He noticed the three:

 **" _Shephard?! Calico?! Elihah?! What the hell were you doing down there? Listen, we need to get our asses down to the extraction point near Lambda sector. With any luck, we'll even get a shot at Freeman on our way out. Now this transit system should take us there but the door is sealed up pretty tight. Elihah, do you mind?"_**

 **" _I think my blowtorch is going to run out of juice, won't open that door with what I've got. We'll need another Engineer."_**

 **" _Damn it all. Shephard, any bright ideas?"_**

 **" _I'll look around, stay here and keep the area secure."_**

 **" _Alright!"_** The Medic gave a thumbs-up.

 **" _You got it!"_** Elihah shook his head.

 **" _Stay safe sir."_** Calico held a solemn look on his face.

And after a brief look-around and a loud scuffle, we're back to where we were previously.

"What do you make of all of this?" Ozpin asked his colleagues.

"Aliens! Distant dimensions! Science that exceeds even ours!" Oobleck had the urge to jump up and down. "Sadly though, these aliens have less than good intentions."

"Certainly interesting creatures Adrian has seen! I would like to have tussled with a Bullsquid as he called it." Port let out a halved laugh. "I agree with Oobleck though. All of this is… wrong."

"Of course it is!" Peach jumped and confronted the hearty man. "Although yes, the alien plant life is certainly interesting, that doesn't equate to how much lives are being lost, alien or human!"

"Correct." Goodwitch stated. "If I'm right, the HECU were sent as a cover-up force. And now even the government is having trouble and are now **covering up** the cover-up. Not to mention the incompetence on all sides."

"Yes yes. The guards aren't all that equipped, scientists barely know how to fight. Marines are losing the battle and Black Operations certainly isn't doing any favours to help." Port spoke.

"This is all true. I can see why Adrian wanted to keep this between the staff and him. No man, woman or child should experience things such as this. The public would no doubt attract the Grimm knowing two alien races are out there, bent to take over worlds to their will." Ozpin chimed in.

"How much of this horror do we have to go through?" Peach questioned.

"The amount of footage equates to exactly one day. We could skip the travelling and note down the important events." Oobleck suggested.

"A DAY, ALL OF THIS HAPPENED IN A DAY?!" Peach shrieked.

"Calm down Alnabatiu, I've seen worse than this." Goodwitch added.

"But all this senseless killin-

"They are following orders, most of them are." Ozpin barged into the argument. "Some follow the orders of the superior, others look out for themselves or for others. But all share a similarity, the need to survive."

"Allow me to be the voice of reason. The HECU and Black Operations are simply following orders. The aliens, Xen and 'Race X' are seemingly in an attempt to overthrow and take over, suggested with the alien flora. And the staff of Black Mesa? They look out for one another against these threats. They all have their reason, there is no senselessness behind it. But it is wrong, yes."

Peach took a deep breath and coughed. Goodwitch straightened herself.

"Oh, and Glynda, this may not look too horrible in your eyes, but we must place ourselves in Adrian's perspective. He was clearly stressed and in constant confusion protecting a band of his fellow marines as well as the disheartening attitude around him." Ozpin added.

"I understand Ozpin." Goodwitch replied.

"Good. Now let's stop this bickering. I have another feeling that events will only get more interesting as we watch on…"

* * *

 **Sorry for the wait I guess, kept you waiting huh?**

 **I'd like to inform my readers beforehand, I will be making Adrian's journey in Black Mesa a bit more... emotional? He's a semi-finished canvas basically ready to have other paint added onto it (Gearbox or Valve describes OpFor as canon and non-canon, a S** **chrodinger's Cat of the Half-Life series). I'll also say, Adrian's ties to Black Operations will be a bit closer for some added dynamic.**

 **All the HECU also will look the same besides from the added "thingy-ma-bob on the helmet that records the FPP (first-person perspective) of the marine). I personally believe that letting the characters see the event for themselves is more effective than them being told it.  
**

 **Also cutting this chapter short. If my chapters go above 10,000 words, then I consider myself dragging it out.**

 **Now, time to answer some stuff, from uh... one reviewer:**

 _ **Guest (Bob)** \- Noting on your concerns:  
_

 _ **1.** I'll keep practicing my pacing, don't worry.  
 **2.** I tend to add as much as I can to a story so I can enthral readers into playing out the story in their head. But little can equate to more sometimes so I'll try and do that next chapter.  
 **3.** I completely understand what you say when I project too much into fixed personalities. I'm changing them a little too quickly for other's tastes. So I'll keep it slow and steady for the remainder of this fanfiction.  
 **4.** This concern confused me a bit. I'll need some more explanation on the "human emotional spacing" part. But I'm going to presume that you weren't so pleased with Weiss' interaction with Adrian/other characters and the to-be Team RWBY's fight with the Nevermore. I'll work on fixing that later._

 **With everything wrapped up and done with, next chapter will have Team RWBY, JNPR and CFVY's thoughts on Adrian as well as the professors watching the rest of the footage.  
**

 **So adios, and see you lot soon.  
-MimicLegend**

 **(P.S: 'Alnabatiu' is Arabic for "botanist", not a good name but it would be the Latin translation instead, and that isn't as pleasant)**


	5. Worlds Collide Again (Pt 2)

***Adrian's Temporary Abode, Beacon Academy***

Upon entering the room, Adrian had to admit, Ozpin certainly gave the students all the comfort they need. _And to think, these are what the dorms look like, what'll my permanent room be then?_

Unlike the large rooms in the military base which held single beds for all recruits, small but good enough, the dorm rooms of Beacon were something that reminded him of home, of better times. A single desk, four beds, empty shelves and a bookcase with nothing inside and a bathroom, he was being spoiled with at this point.

Even if everything looked nice, he was annoyed that his crates weren't returned yet. Perhaps the staff would come for his comment later, but with the night getting even darker, Adrian needed to get ready to sleep soon.

Glancing to the far-left bed, he saw a bundle of clothes and a few books stacked on top of one another, someone had left him a gift, or something more. Walking over, he picked up the note that associated itself with the bundles and read through carefully.

 _Welcome to the dorm you will be occupying for the time being, until we have sorted through any inconveniences and important information. Along with the note you are currently reading, I have given you some sufficient clothing to wear until you are able to purchase your own as well as books carefully hand-picked for you to obtain a better understanding of our world. I hope what we have given to you suits your needs._

 _\- Headmaster Ozpin_

Adrian wasn't surprised, Ozpin had proven himself to be a hospitable host, even if his intentions lied among the haze. But his mind lingered on **when** Ozpin had sent these things, obviously after he had arrived at Beacon, but also before when?

Adrian simply sighed and grabbed the clothes. "Sneaky bastard, too damn sneaky."

Getting himself into the bathroom, he stripped himself of his clothing and everything else before hopping into the shower and turning on the water, not too cold, yet not too hot either, just the perfect temperature.

Adrian let the water fall onto him slowly, it felt like eternity since he had a shower even if it was just a day in that facility. Cleaning himself over, he let some water fall onto his hands, a solemn look in his eyes, remembering darker times.

He would never forget Black Mesa even if someone had shot him in the brain. He was a lowly ranked soldier when he was thrust into a scenario he had no idea on. He only idly watched on or did what he could, but that never worked either.

The good and the bad, it didn't matter, everyone and everything he knew or had met and seen were burned into the dirt, and it was all his fault.

He groaned to himself, he hated the self-pity at this point. Taking the time to take some shampoo and body wash to clean himself over once more, he soon got out, using a towel placed inside the bathroom clean his being thoroughly, rough but effective.

He put on the clothes, some underwear, a simple grey shirt, combat boots and some cargo pants. _Wouldn't be surprised if Ozpin also hand-picked the clothes too._ He picked up his PCV, helmet and gas-mask and exited, placing them neatly onto the lacklustre table in the dorm room.

Tired as any man who had gone through a facility full of aliens and traitors, Adrian threw himself onto an empty bed, finding himself melting in the touch of the bed, figuratively of course.

"God, I have to admit, this feels good." He grunted as he turned himself over to the books on his left. Deciding to take one, he let his hand out and gripped onto a book which he looked over.

"Grimm Bestiary Guide, this should be a good read." Adrian softly smiled.

He liked reading after all.

* * *

 ***Team CFVY's Dorm, Beacon Academy***

When the day had started for Coco and her team, it would've been like any other. Work, spar, and work again, maybe some homework in between all of it too. But while all the older years were sent to the auditorium watching the first-years undergo the initiation, she was confused seeing a grown man in the mess of it all.

He certainly piked her interest, his big gun reminded much of her own weapon and his skill to up against a Death Stalker and survive was surprising for what she presumed was a misplaced Atlas soldier.

But she and her team had heard everything else too, the fact he practically had been living under a rock made Coco mentally want to slap him. No knowledge of Dust, Grimm, Aura, nothing at all.

Aura, as soon as she worded that, she remembered what this Adrian guy had said: _"My… parents… never really told me about Aura when I was growing up. I survived in this world with just my wits and training from my drill instructor, Dwight T. Barnes."_

Fighting the Grimm, with no Aura to protect him at all. Provided he had his 'PCV' to do the same thing but maybe even without it, he could've blazed through the initiation easily with the skill this 'Dwight T. Barnes' trained into him. He probably was a very good Huntsman.

But the unfamiliar terms had also stuck with Coco and her team. 'HECU' and 'Black Operations', Adrian had explained they were both Altesian Special Forces specialising in cover-ups and unfamiliar environments, but the digging she, Fox and Yatsuhashi had done showed nothing at all. She had the uncomfortable feeling he was lying about it all.

But she wouldn't fret for long, as Velvet entered the dorm, Coco would get her answers.

"Velvet!" Coco got herself up to confront her partner. "How was the tour with green and mysterious?"

"Better than I thought actually." The rabbit Faunus grinned.

"Oh? Maybe after you saw his performance you got the hots for him?" Coco teased.

"No, I found out he was something more than a fighter." Velvet had answered seriously, and this indicated something either good or bad. Fox and Yatsuhashi looked over to hear what she had to say while Coco titled her glasses down.

"I swear to god if he-

"N-no! He didn't!" Velvet diffused before Coco could make the decision to rip Adrian a new one.

"Then what exactly?" Fox questioned. Yatsuhashi only raised his eyebrows, wanting to know too.

"Well…" Velvet sat herself onto her bed, Coco sat on her left and Fox on her right, while Yatsuhashi stood next to Coco. "The walk towards the dorms was awkward and scary. Coco, you always told me that not everyone is what they seem, that maybe he secretly despised me."

"Well, I'm just good when it comes to caring for my team." Coco firmly stated.

"He complimented you on that you know."

"Wait what? Really?" Coco's eyes widened at that comment.

"I told him about how you taught me to be careful, he said that you taught me well, saying he also had to go through something too." Velvet smiled at that memory.

"He has good intentions, I am glad of that." Yatsuhashi spoke for the first time since Velvet had entered.

"I agree with Yatsu. I'm glad you've managed to make a friend out of someone." Fox nodded his head.

"Yep! My bunny's finally gonna grow out of her shell!" Coco playfully put the Faunus into a headlock with said Faunus whining to be let go.

"Coco! Please let me explain the rest!" The girl in question obliged and let her go, Velvet smiled and chuckled, she liked her headlocks, but now wasn't the time.

"Anyway, like I was saying, I thought he'd get offended but to quote from him: _"Only a dumbass with their shrivelled brain up their ass would get mad when you say things like that."_ "

Silence filled the room, Velvet felt severely uncomfortable as her teammates stared blankly at her. Then Coco ended it with a slow clap that didn't stop, followed by a light size of laughter. "As far as you lot know, me and Adrian, we're already friends."

They all laughed, Velvet especially. Coco wasn't very welcoming of newcomers, but Adrian unintentionally and seemingly had softened her up for a moment, it warmed the hearts of everyone in the room.

"Anyway, that's not even the weird part. He straight up admitted to me, not afraid at all… about wanting to be a Faunus, because of our attributes." Team CFY were almost flabbergasted as Velvet said that. The mysterious Atlas soldier who took on a Death Stalker and survived admitted to wishing to Oum he could be a Faunus, such a weird way of thinking, but also considerate.

"Heart of gold." Yatsuhashi murmured to himself as Velvet continued.

"I talked about the first-years, Team CRDL, the ones who picked on me as soon as they exited the auditorium."

"Sheesh, yeah those pricks. Took the lot of you just so I couldn't break his nose with my handbag, I'll still do it anyway but." Coco interjected.

"He gave me some advice, I shouldn't stoop to their level, I shouldn't try to convince them otherwise since they won't listen, but also to talk some sense and maybe stop it before it gets worse."

"Huh, seems like Adrian knows a few things about your predicament." Fox added.

"He does, I asked him how, he had to deal with bullies too."

"Takes one to know one. Ask him anything else?" Coco asked.

"No, he needed to sleep so I didn't want to disrupt that." Velvet was suddenly taken into another headlock along with a playful noogie, an act all partners should do. "That's the Velvet I know and love! Polite as ever!"

"Gah! Coco! Stop!"

"If you say so," Coco let go of a flustered Velvet as she rubbed her head. "We should get ready for tomorrow. We'll thank this Adrian guy if we find him."

Yatsuhashi nodded, Fox just shrugged and followed the order and Velvet decided to have a shower before bed. Grabbing her clothes, she couldn't help but squeal internally. She would've never imagined a soldier from Atlas to be so nice to her.

Maybe Adrian could change things for the better.

* * *

 ***Team RWBY's Dorm, Beacon Academy***

Meanwhile, the newly appointed Team RWBY, led none other by Ruby Rose, we're simply spending some time laying back and occasionally conversing.

Ruby was especially ecstatic yet also worried about being the leader. Did she really have what it took to be that kind of person? Doubt clouded all her thoughts, Yang, Blake or maybe even Weiss could do better, they had the extra training and had finished their schools. But Ruby, she was misplaced and confused much like Adrian.

 _Adrian Shephard._

He was a leader, she wasn't. She had noticed how he led the others. Firm, steady, confident, stalwart, all qualities of a leader, Ruby didn't have those qualities. Could she be just like him? If she tried hard enough, maybe. But all these thoughts put her into a state of momentary sadness as she cuddled up onto her bed clad in her pyjamas, not wishing to speak right now.

The half-sister on the other hand, Yang Xiao Long, knew she had that potential to be the leader they all needed. Dammit it all, she had stop Roman Torchwick, nefarious and cut-throat criminal of Vale, that was proof enough for her. She was nothing but proud of the reclusive rose.

But she had noticed her sadness, her blank stares into space, she needed to fix that.

"Hey Rubes, you doing fine?"

"No, not at all actually," Ruby answered

Yang stood up and walked, soon sitting next to her sister as the little rose pouted. "What's up Ruby? You can talk to me."

"Well… can I really be a leader? I don't feel like I deserve it."

"Oh, come on Rubes! You stopped Roman Torchwick and made that kick-ass plan against the Nevermore! I'd say that's proof enough!"

"But Yang, everyone else has trained for this! I'm just a girl who's been sent into Beacon two years early!" She put her hands on her face, stressed about it all. "Oh, why can't I be like Adrian!"

"Wait, Adrian? Mysterious Atlas soldier guy? What about him?"

Ruby simply found her face suddenly go red as she realised she had said that aloud. "You saw him during the initiation, he led like he done it like, thousands of times. I didn't even want to be leader in the first place! I'm taking the opportunity from someone who really wanted it, like you or Blake, even Weiss."

Blake looked away from the book she was reading. "Not really."

Weiss made no comment.

"Bull. Shit. Ruby, you may not be as experienced, but we're all still learning, we can't be perfect but we can do what we can. You care for all of us, don't you?"

Ruby suddenly jolted upwards, surprising the golden girl. "Of course I do! You're all my team! Why wouldn't I?!"

"That just proves my point," Yang placed her hand on Ruby shoulder, she needed to make her happy again. "You may not think you're the best, but you care for your team, for all of us. I consider that one heck of a start, you agree with me, right?"

Ruby nodded, finding herself in the embrace of Yang's arms soon after. "Ruby, I don't care if you're a good leader or not, perfect or complete trash, as long as you keep your head high and don't let others weigh you down, you'll be one of the best."

"T-thank you, Yang."

Blake couldn't help but smile at their sisterly love, it keenly reminded her of younger days, where her father and mother would always come to her aid whenever a problem was at hand. She decided not to bask too much into those types of topics as she continued with her book.

Weiss however, was simply quite mixed hearing all of this. Ruby was right, she shouldn't have been leader in the first place, Yang was much too care-free and Blake was much too quiet. Weiss, she was the perfect candidate, good and better refined at all their qualities by a hundred. But to hear the dolt's doubts, she couldn't help but feel guilty, yet also sadistically happy about all of it. Ruby was pure incompetence.

But what if Yang was right?

She didn't have to care on the blonde's sayings. Staring at the wall to avert her attention away from the two, she fell into her own world, where she was leader, where she had the power to change Remnant, the power to do something better.

The ultimate Huntress, Weiss Schnee.

Yang had gotten up and patted her sister lightly on the back. "Even if you have your doubts, do what I do, power through 'til you're the last one standing!"

Ruby nodded vigorously, "I do have my doubts Yang, but I'll have to pull through, it's the only way."

Yang whooped as she celebrated. "That's the way! Go Team RWBY!"

Yang herself had plans to help her sister, but she let them go for now as the newly-born antics of Team RWBY continued.

* * *

 ***Team JNPR's Dorm, Beacon Academy***

Much could also be said for Jaune Arc, the leader of Team JNPR. _Leader? LEADER?!_ These were his first thoughts, and they lingered with him like overgrown moss.

Hell, when Ozpin had made that announcement, the knight had been severely surprised, too surprised. He had expected Pyrrha or Ren, maybe even Nora. They had… combat experience.

Jaune however, knew he did not, what-so-ever. That flood of Grimm during the Initiation would have killed him had it not been for Pyrrha's constant intervention, even Adrian didn't need help, doing perfectly fine.

Adrian, the "Atlas Trooper", as Beacon students liked to call him.

Adrian was constantly miles ahead of Jaune, he had a sword and shield, simple. Adrian had night-vision, a big gun capable of putting down a Nevermore and some sort of cannon that instantly blew any Grimm out of existence, besides the larger ones.

Jaune mumbled to himself, sifting through his baggage as he thought of Adrian's perfection, his cool weapons, even his generic yet even cooler nickname.

Jaune had also failed to notice Pyrrha walking right up to him.

"Jaune, is something wrong?" Jaune jumped hearing Pyrrha's voice. Rubbing the back of his head, he had to reply. "Y-yeah! Everything's just fine, all… of it… okay no nothing is fine at all."

"Jaune," Pyrrha sat on the floor with her legs bundled in her arms as she spoke. "If something is going on with our leader which we don't know about, then I feel it's our responsibility to fix that."

"YEAH!" Nora screamed as loud as she could. Ren had to shut her up before the warrior could start speaking again.

"So, what's wrong Jaune?"

The boy in question sighed. "I just feel like… crap."

"And how may I fix that?" Pyrrha asked.

"Maybe… I just need some time, alone, to think."

Pyrrha understood as she nodded, rising before going back to doing whatever she was doing. Jaune saw in the corners of his eyes the girl shoot her a worrying look, before turning back.

Jaune had seriously wanted to admit things to her and his team. But that'd mean he'd open up more, and that'd lead to them finding out how he had gotten into Beacon in the first place, which was certainly troubling.

Kick him out, hate his guts, break an arm, or leg. Too many things to count. But the blonde knight ignored them, as long as he stayed detached from the rest, he'd be fine.

* * *

 ***Ozpin's Office, Beacon Academy***

Ozpin shut down his Scroll, closing his eyes to consider what had just happened. The others around him had mixed reactions to the finishing of the footage, Glynda and Peach clenched their fists in pure anger, Oobleck had grabbed a chair and sat down, drumming his fingers on his thigh and Port had tried to stay calm, but eventually spoke his word.

"This… all of that was quite disturbing." Port had started off.

"Yes." Ozpin blankly stated, thinking of what they had just seen.

 **[Flashback, X hours prior]**

Soon after Ozpin had succeeded with shutting up Goodwitch and Peach's argument, they continued watching Adrian's journey. Adrian finding an injured Engineer in a garage, he contacted the Medic outside via his radio, who came through soon after.

Luckily for the Engineer, the Medic had stuck a syringe into the man, healing most of the minor wounds and numbing the rest. The three reunited with the rest and the newly-rescued Engineer, who called himself 'Private Wilfred Olsen' cut through the door the Medic had tried to get through, all met by a single turret on the other side.

" _ **Damn! Luckily I didn't kick the door in!"**_ Wilfred exclaimed.

After dealing with the turret with a well-timed grenade, the band of marines were off once again, walking through halls full of trip mines and dead bodies. The band soon found two more marines camping out near the transit system.

" _ **Corporal what the hell is going on here? Nobody told us about Black Operations in the mission briefing!"**_ The soldier with the bandana said.

" _ **Yeah! I mean we are all on the same team, right? Right!?"**_ The other soldier who had the same gear as Adrian expressed his worry.

" _ **To make it clear, they're no longer with us. Rather they're here to exterminate us."**_ Adrian cemented.

" _ **God damn straight!"**_ Calico shouted from behind Adrian.

" _ **Well hell Corporal! We can't just stay here then! We were sent in without knowing a thing, not even what the mission was."**_ Gas-Mask informed.

" _ **Same here, but we're on our own mission now, getting out of here alive is top priority."**_ Adrian nodded to the group behind him, all giving out whoops and cheers.

" _ **Then we'll come with you Corporal, we won't fail you!"**_ Bandana straightened himself and smiled.

" _ **There's a room with the controls to the transit doors right next to us, we scouted some Assassins hiding inside, but now we've got six of us!"**_ Gas-Mask pointed where he was speaking about.

" _ **Then let's make hell Marines!"**_ Adrian and Bandana, who identified as "Corporal Jackson Jones" formulated a quick plan with the others giving their own opinions and came up with a simple formation. Two separate groups lead by one of the corporals. Adrian, Calico, Medic and Elihah would be up front. Jackson, Gas-Mask and Wilfred at the back.

All silently treaded their way into the control room. Surrounded with boxes, Adrian knew the Assassins would ambush them first opportunity they saw, and they did. As soon as the company entered they were quick to ambush the lot, but they were ready.

" _ **Cover fire! Don't let 'em near you!"**_

" _ **Shit! Keep them pinned down!"**_

" _ **Medic!"**_

" _ **Gas-Mask, spray the lot!"**_

" _ **Precision weapons! Aim for their heads!"**_

The professors were quite impressed with the skill on both sides. The Assassins were all exclusively female, flipping and running sporadically to avoid being shot while also precisely firing at the marines with their silenced pistols. Yet the rogue HECU had power, numbers and leadership by their side, more powerful than a hundred cannons.

" _ **Fuck! Help me get her off!"**_ Jackson could see Wilfred down and attempting to stop a stabbing by an Assassin.

" _ **Adrian, deal with her!"**_

" _ **Get off him, don't you even dare!"**_ Adrian took out his Desert Eagle, firing a round through her head, shattering the skull and splattering blood all over the private.

" _ **Damn, talk about messy!"**_ Wilfred laughed as he got himself up.

It honestly bewildered the professors that some of the soldiers were enjoying the combat, others were desperately fighting and Adrian was even more brutal than he was during the Initiation, taking the time to cave skulls in with his Pipe Wrench while swearing constantly.

"Mr. Shephard is especially… over-protective of his team." Goodwitch spoke, the other professors murmured their own comments, agreeing with Goodwitch's statement on Adrian's ruthlessness.

"That is true, but it shows his loyalty, does it not?" Ozpin raised his eyes to get his point across.

They all nodded before resuming the video, now most of the Assassins were killed, with two surrounded and disarmed. Adrian took to opening the transit doors via the controls while the rest interrogated the two Assassins.

" _ **Why were you sent here?"**_

No answer.

" _ **Who ordered you to kill us?"**_

Silence filled the air.

" _ **Silent treatment eh?"**_

Now the two both nodded.

" _ **We should just kill 'em! Get it-**_

" _ **NO! That's unproductive. Tie them up or watch them, we can use them as bargaining tools."**_ Adrian shouted from up top. The marines didn't complain since it sounded reasonable enough.

Jackson used his bandana to tie up one of them while the other had two pistols aimed at her head. They both knew two against seven would be a death wish so both remained silent until reinforcements arrived, whenever they would come.

Now with the transit doors open, the seven along with the captured trekked onwards. Adrian smashed open crates with his wrench and shared whatever was inside. Soon they found another hallway and ordered their captives to go forward in case any Black Ops were there.

They were indeed correct, as Black Operations were just around the corner. Wilfred volunteered to go ahead and try and gain passage without fighting. He stepped forward, placing his pistol on the back of one of the two Assassins' head.

" _ **Alright! We've got two of your friends here, so let us go through an-**_

He never finished that sentence, and never would as a soldier expertly shot through both the hostage and Wilfred's head, killing both in an instant.

" _ **NOOOO!"**_ Adrian was truly enraged as he pulled out his M16 and shot a grenade, missing them entirely.

" _ **Fuck, get behind!"**_

" _ **Take them all down!"**_

Gunfire rung and bodies fell as both sides chattered among themselves to survive.

" _ **Take them down now!"**_

" _ **Gas-Mask, get down!"**_

" _ **Keep firing!"**_

" _ **This is Black Operations! We need back-up now!"**_

" _ **Kill them!"**_

The symphony of a firefight died down as bodies of Black Operations littered the floor. Two had surrendered and placed their weapons down. The Assassin with the tied hands was strangely sobbing despite her training and silence beforehand.

" _ **Don't fire! We surrender!"**_ One of them pleaded.

" _ **We have families, please!"**_ The other was on his knees praying.

" _ **Bullshit!"**_

Adrian was mourning the death of Wilfred, who couldn't even die peacefully as his eyes stared blankly into nothing. He shifted his hand over Wilfred's eyes to close them while taking his dog-tags and muttering the HECU motto. Getting up and confronting the argument, he finally snapped.

" _ **No… no more, my order is final. CAPICHE?!"**_

The team of six were all taken aback by Adrian's outburst, and so said nothing as Adrian punched one of the soldiers in the face and kicked his stomach.

" _ **Names. NOW."**_

" _ **C-Captain Ollie Redmond o-of Alpha Company."**_ The injured one managed to call out.

" _ **Sergeant Major Helix Lewin of Delta Team, they were killed so I rendezvoused with Alpha Company."**_ The other one spoke.

" _ **I would shoot you both in the head right now… But is what you say true?"**_

" _ **Of course, it damn is! We were sent in to clean up your mess by any means, I didn't know the means let our own die!"**_ Ollie shrieked.

" _ **Look man, help us get out of here. We can't take any chances and you'd like information, right?"**_ Helix pleaded once more.

 _ **God dammit… Fine, but if you gun down my men, you're both dead meat. Understand?"**_

" _ **We got it, we'll help with getting you through our territory too."**_

' _ **That makes me a happy man Ollie."**_

Adrian left the two to get up and grab their M16s, turning on the safety to show their allegiance. He walked through Calico and Gas-Mask covering Wilfred's corpse and Jackson alongside Elihah and Medic were considering their next move. Walking up to the now sniffling Assassin, Helix rushed to him.

" _ **Hey man, I think you should let her go."**_

" _ **And you can keep her under control?"**_

" _ **If she's with us, she'll be fine."**_

Adrian sighed and ordered the Assassin to stand up and turn around. Unwrapping the bandana on her hands and tossing it to Jackson, who nodded and smiled, he tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around.

" _ **Name?"**_

"…"

" _ **Alright, I won't-**_

" _ **David."**_

" _ **David? That's a man's name, y'know that?"**_

" _ **My parents… wanted a boy."**_

" _ **Oh… Well, care to join us?"**_

" _ **As long as I'm with Ollie and Helix, and as long as you can get us all out as well."**_

" _ **Alright. We'll all be out and free, mark my words."**_

" _ **Thank you."**_

Adrian took out his pistol, which David took. With the conglomerate of HECU and Black Operations, they looked around for access to a transit car. Finding a lever that would give them one, they pulled it down and got to the transit car, finding out it was much too small.

Ollie and Medic decided to voice their ideas. The more equipped members of this team would onto the sides of the tracks and keep watch while the weaker ones would stay on the car and drive it forward.

And so, it was decided, Adrian, Medic, Ollie, Helix, Jackson, Gas-Mask and Elihah would go up front while David and Calico operated the car.

Soon enough, with enough time and patience, the car came to a stop where a single Black Ops soldier held cover behind some sandbags. Calico feinted injury to not expose their cover.

" _ **David! Where the fuck have you been?!"**_

" _ **U-um, gathering prisoners, I've only found the one."**_

" _ **Prisoners? The fuck is wrong with you? We kill them and get out! Simple!"**_

" _ **What about information?"**_

" _ **No need. Just kill him. Now."**_

" _ **Alright, listen here…"**_

David confronted the soldier, and then quickly pulled him into a choke-hold. The soldier rammed his head back and dazed her before spin-kicking her into a wall where she received a knee to the stomach. She threw a punch and a few kicks before knocking the soldier out with a chop to the head, doing a downwards slam-kick just to make sure.

" _ **Coast is clear, we can move now."**_

The nine moved through, helping each other up a spot above and crouching under a vent. Adrian took the lead and took the grate down with his wrench, hearing a voice call out to someone.

 **[_== WE ARE NOT ALONE ==_]**

" _ **It's ready! You must go! Now!"**_

Wanting to find out more, Adrian rushed to some buttons, preparing to open the door until Jackson stopped him from doing so.

" _ **Adrian, we can't just charge in without a plan, let's consider what's on the other side."**_

Fortunately for them, the voice made it very clear what was on the other side.

" _ **Hurry up, Freeman, I can't keep it open forever!"**_

" _ **FREEMAN?!"**_

All except Adrian shouted as loud as they could as Jackson pushed Adrian aside and slammed on the green button, opening the metal door. But it was too late as they all saw a glimpse of Freeman jumping into some portal before disappearing.

" _ **Damn, we should go after him!"**_ Medic suggested, everyone agreed except for Adrian, who hardened up in annoyance.

 _ **NO! Forget about Freeman, he's no longer priority, we are! We keep moving and surviving!"**_

No one argued, he was right. Freeman was just optional choice now. Their lives mattered.

" _ **There's a portal up on the bridge! We need to get to it somehow. Deal with the aliens, hopefully the infrastructure fails to our favour."**_

They all nodded. Turning off the safety to their guns, they easily wiped the floor with these new floating aliens and soon after that, they had some time to talk with the person on the intercom.

" _ **Hey intercom! Where's Freeman going?"**_

" _ **Xen, he's stopping the source!"**_

" _ **Well look at that you lot, guess Freeman had good intentions."**_

All of them kicked the ground, others grunted and some audibly voiced their disagreements. But there was no time for arguments as the bridge Adrian was hoping would fall did indeed fall.

" _ **Quickly, the bridge is down! Up! Now!"**_

" _ **Good luck to the nine of you!"**_

Calico and David went in first, then the remainder as Adrian went in last, checking his surroundings before getting inside. The camera to his HUD suddenly went dark, allowing the professors some time to talk.

"Adrian is certainly a hero indeed." Port lied back onto his chair as he went into thought.

"Yes, despite everything he Is still the voice of reason. His team greatly interest me too." Oobleck turned to Ozpin for his opinion.

"Yes. All have put aside differences and grudges for one thing. Survival."

"Indeed. Although Wilfred's death does also concern me greatly of Adrian's state of mind." Goodwitch mused to the rest.

"Yes. His absolute brutality due to the deaths of others and over-protectiveness does present some issues." Peach worried.

"That is true, but it will be dealt with." Ozpin nodded to the others as the footage finally came back to reveal some strange world.

" _ **Ugh… Where the hell…?"**_

" _ **Adrian! Get off me!"**_

" _ **Hey! Stop groping where you shouldn't be!"**_

" _ **Dammit it was an accident!"  
**_

" _ **Stop messing around, and can Helmet get off me!"**_

" _ **That's Calico to you, Oppy!"**_

" _ **Hey. Uh, are you lot done?"**_

" _ **DONE?! If someone gets off me then we can consider us done!"**_

The mound that was Adrian's team collapsed as each got out of the pile and stood up, dusting themselves off before staring wonderfully at what was presented before them.

" _ **Where… What the hell…?"**_ Calico stumbled all about, confused where he was.

" _ **Woah. Where are we?"**_ Gas-Mask asked the others.

Adrian was the last to get up, walking through his team as he got up front before turning to the others.

" _ **Xen."**_ Adrian simply stated. They were all surprised, so this is where all the aliens were coming from.

" _ **Well now, Freeman should be here then."**_ Medic smiled.

" _ **Don't think so. We're probably far away from the target. We need to find a way out."**_ Ollie suggested, Adrian gave him a nod and Jackson showed his trust by smiling as well.

" _ **Up there, another portal! We can get back if we get through there."**_ David pointed to a portal above them, much too far to reach by conventional means.

" _ **Then what are we waiting for? Let's move."**_ Adrian decided the first thing to do was to jump to the small island below and step onto its skin-looking hole. He was scared sick when the thing sent him flying into the air, screaming his head off as he landed safely onto another rock.

The others follow suit as they flew from floating outcrop to floating outcrop. They were all surprised even further when a scientist was suddenly teleported from way up above and sent falling to his death. There was nothing they could do but watch as his bones cracked and his life ended. But the gravity had caused not too much damage and he dropped some sort of cannon.

Adrian picked it up and read the words on a wire: "BLACK MESA XV11382 – DISPLACER"

" _ **Like it already."**_

Adrian took the weapon for himself, feeling it would be useful in the future. The team jumped to each floating outcrop via the skin holes until one of them propelled them far enough to get into the portal. Adrian like before, was the last to get in as the black consumed the footage once more.

"Xen, so these are where the aliens come from." Oobleck cited.

"Hmm. Interesting." Port added.

"The flora is quite sparse, but these were simple platforms. It is still interesting considering flora can survive there." Peach went in closer to examine more.

Goodwitch turned to see if Ozpin would make a comment, but he didn't. She presumed he would voice his opinion when the footage ended so she stayed silent for the time being.

The footage came back to life and Adrian groaned and got himself up, now back in Black Mesa but also in a new direction. It seemed he also came in late, as the others were either conversing or resting themselves.

 **[_== CRUSH DEPTH ==_]**

" _ **How long was I gone?"**_ Adrian mumbled as he shook his head.

" _ **At least 3 or 4 minutes, not too long."**_ Ollie said, who was sitting down and checking over his M16.

Adrian sighed, at least it wasn't an hour or more. Everyone had gotten up as Adrian made the order to search around for supplies, but none of them left each other's sides. There was no more talk as silence reigned supreme until a peculiar incident appeared before them.

" _ **Ah, finally. Someone to help me out of this debacle."**_ A singular scientist wearing some sort of suit was stuck inside a tank surrounded by water. If the glass broke he would die easily.

Adrian got as close as he could to the glass. _**"What's the problem?"**_

" _ **I'm afraid I've trapped myself here to escape those beasts. Would you be so kind as to operate that transporter?"**_

" _ **Done and dusted."**_ Medic called out as he stood behind the controls.

" _ **Yeah, some aliens, but they went down fast enough."**_ Elihah spoke out as he dragged two corpses of Pit Drones from behind the controls.

Medic saw a bright yellow button and pressed it down. Sparks and noises run out as the scientist was soon teleported from the tank to the room itself, in a small structure as large as a bookcase. The bars raised and he walked out with a wave.

" _ **Thank you for releasing me. I can help you access any security area in this lab."**_

" _ **Huh, that helps us a bunch."**_ Gas-Mask chuckled at their luck.

" _ **We would've just killed you, but Adrian over here made it pretty clear we just get out alive. Plus, we need information on some of the stuff around here too."**_ Medic added.

" _ **Then so be it. Follow me."**_

The scientist led the team through some hallways before reaching an access panel, opening the locked door using his ID. The next hallway has a tank with its glass shattered as the scientist walked over to open the next door, if Helix hadn't stopped him.

" _ **The wires cut. It won't work and it won't take a genius to figure that out. We need another way in."**_

" _ **The opened tank has an opening to the top. We could get in through the vents."**_ David pointed to the tank with the shattered glass.

All agreed with her as they went through, even the scientist had joined them, considering he'd be safe with nine guns around him. All walked through the vents, confronting Pit Drones that were quickly taken down. All advanced with Adrian up front who broke down obstructions with his wrench until one led to the room they had intended to get into.

" _ **That's a teleporter! Perhaps we can teleport inside the aquarium."**_ The scientist sighted said teleporter and cheered in glee.

" _ **Yeah, but that teleporter looks broken, and there's a lot of us."**_ Calico brought the scientist back to reality.

" _ **Then we squeeze ourselves in, and that teleporter might not work after one of us uses it."**_ Adrian shared. All agreed so made with what they had.

The squeeze inside was extremely difficult. Adrian, Gas-Mask and the scientist made the most mass while David had the least, but she felt like she was being squished with the amount to males that surrounded her.

" _ **What if something goes wrong?"**_ David asked.

" _ **Meh, at least we got to try something new."**_ Helix answered.

The button was pressed as the teleporter did its work. Sparks and explosions filled everything as the team got extremely worried of what would happen if this were to happen. But it worked and the footage went dark once more.

The professors watching made no comments however.

The footage flashed back to life as Adrian's heavy breathing could be heard. Some were swimming to the opening on his right, while Ollie and Helix helped the scientist get through. Adrian followed and got out of the water, all coughing.

After checking through their weapons and themselves, they walked through the tiny hallway, confronting Headcrabs which were quickly grabbed and thrown down to be killed by gunfire. Headcrab Zombies also used their sharpened hands in an attempt to kill the living, but were eliminated too easily as the team got into a vent and started crouch-walking.

It didn't last long though as Adrian up front soon fell onto a grate and broke it. He flailed as he landed into the water, swimming upwards before calling out to the others.

" _ **Just jump down! Some help the scientist and all of you just get to the ladder!"**_

They followed the orders and got onto solid ground, greeted with Headcrabs, Headcrabs Zombies and one Gonome, all gunned down expertly.

" _ **We're running low Adrian, we'll need more."**_

" _ **Yeah. Try and aim for the heads and use your knives too."**_

The team soon entered another room and went down, killing anything that stood between them. They continued downwards until they found a valve which Helix turned, not expecting something to be released because of it.

" _ **What the fu-**_

" _ **Ichthyosaur. Extremely dangerous and big. Someone needs to deal with it."**_

Adrian took out the Displacer and 'ahemed' to get everyone's attention.

" _ **I'll deal with it."**_

Adrian climbed back up to the platform before taking a deep breath and jumping into the water. The Ichthyosaur was barely out of its cage before Adrian fired the Displacer. It acted almost like a cannon of sorts and a ball of energy raced towards the creature, collapsing it before disappearing out of thin air.

" _ **Damn! Talk about kick-ass."**_

Adrian reached the window where they had watched the alien being freed. Banging on the glass, he gave a thumbs up before returning to open waters and waited for the others, who came soon after.

" _ **Alright. You lot just follow me now."**_

They all agreed as they got themselves wet once more, swimming with Adrian as they saw a room with another valve inside. Adrian once inside turned it before pointed upwards, all understood as they swam up gasping for air, the water no longer submerging them as the doors closed to prevent water coming in.

The doors to another hallway opened and they all walked through. The normality of conversations, call-outs and weapon checking resumed its course until they were confronted with an electrical field.

" _ **Crap, how're we getting through?"**_ Calico sighed.

Adrian and Jackson did not let them think ahead as both drew their Desert Eagles and fired at a near-by power switch, but Adrian did it faster.

" _ **I win."**_

" _ **Damn, good shot."**_

Walking through the corpses, they continued until reaching another room and suddenly ambushed by aliens. All took cover and others provided cover-fire as the aliens that first came through were less than hard. The third one would prove more difficult.

" _ **What is that thing?!"**_

" _ **I don't know! Kill it before it kills us!"**_

The alien suddenly teleported before reappearing behind Helix and swatting him away like a fly. Firing its Shock Roach towards the soldiers, they all were overcome with paranoia as it teleported constantly before reappearing elsewhere and hitting someone and teleporting once more before anyone could fire a shot.

" _ **It makes noise when it teleports! Defence on the scientist, don't panic and keep your ears clean for any movement.**_

This constant game of cat and mice did not end until it teleported behind Adrian, who spun around at the sound and slammed through its eye with extreme force. Blinded, it screeched as it teleported unknowingly into Gas-Mask's weapon, who let it have it as the alien was riddled with holes.

" _ **What the hell was that thing?"**_ Gas-Mask breathed heavily as he looked over it.

" _ **Shock Trooper, we'll call them that. Their weapons hurt like hell, plus it kind of surprised us."**_ Adrian coined the alien by a term now.

" _ **Let's make sure that doesn't happen again.**_ **"** Ollie grunted as they all continued forth.

Unlocking a door that was previously locked, they trudged on until before seeing another portal in front of them. All jumped in and Adrian was the last, going through as the footage went dark for another time.

"Was that not one of the aliens who kidnapped that scientist earlier on?" Peach asked the others.

"It most certainly was. Troubling to think that they can teleport in and out spontaneously at will." Oobleck mused while stroking his chin.

"And even if an invasion sounds far-fetched, it would be troubling having to deal with these 'Shock Troopers'." Goodwitch gave her two cents to the surrounding professors.

"Indeed, I'm almost glad we haven't tampered with teleportation technology, knowing these aliens used it to invade." Port worried.

"If these are pressing concerns, I'd rather we talk about them after we've gotten what we need of Adrian's footage." Ozpin simply shut up their thoughts for now.

The footage resumed as a quick trip back to Zen took place the team going through the portal that was also quite near them. This time, they were sent to the other location instantaneously, but Adrian paid no mind as he continued with his team.

Another door unlocked and some more walking found them in another hallway with an Ichthyosaur habitat.

" _ **Adrian, if you would mind?"**_ Medic offered.

" _ **Yeah, I know, but damn how many of these things are there?"**_

Two blasts from the Displacer after, Adrian pointed to a vent in the habitat, adding that he could break the grate with his wrench. Going in first and removing said grating, the vent led up to an unsubmerged piping system. Giving the thumbs-up, the others followed suit.

 **[_== VICARIOUS REALITY ==_]**

Climbing out to the piping system using some collapsed debris, they faced Headcrabs lying lazily on corpses, all shot and died quickly as they went on. Walking through what they'd seen as the containment areas, the scientist decided to speak his mind.

" _ **Ah yes, the Containment Areas. We've managed to capture and study many of the creatures of Xen. Many of them are still hostile, so do be careful."**_

They would've all already knew, but they walked on. A door at the end of the hallway was locked, so they turned back only to be ambushed by some Pit Drones and a Shock Trooper, all screeching orders in their alien language.

" _ **Shit, fall back!"**_

" _ **Adrian, deal with the Shock Trooper! We'll deal with the other small things!"**_

" _ **Got it. Get the scientist some cover!"**_

" _ **Cover fire! Cover fire! Don't let the bastards through!"**_

Adrian jumped onto a Pit Drone, using it to propel himself towards the Shock Trooper, wrench and knife in hand. It teleported quickly and reappeared behind him, grabbing his leg and slamming him onto the floor. Adrian turned himself to see its foot try to crush his head, dodging just in time.

He drew out his Desert Eagle and fired twice, sending the alien back and dazing it as he threw a crippling right hook onto its head, tripping it and slammed down onto his chest with the wrench, breaking its ribs and rupturing the lungs. As the creature struggled to breathe, he fired a quick shot to end its misery.

" _ **Phew, too close for comfort."**_

Looking behind to see his team, he sighed in relief, only for that relief to become annoyance as the creature's living gun strapped itself to his arm, feeling the tingling sensation as it bonded with the corporal's skin.

" _ **I don't think it'll be coming off."**_ Helix mumbled. _ **  
**_

" _ **No shit, at least it should do some good."**_

Adrian saw a window that had broken, leading to the habitat. Ordering everyone to get in, they all followed him, with the scientist coming down last as he was caught by them. They had no time to move forward though as another new alien entered the fray.

" _ **Big guy! Big guy!"**_

" _ **Get that scientist out of here! Gas-Mask, Helix, Ollie, Elihah, fire at will! Me, Jackson and David will provide suppression! Everyone else, move around and find a way out of here!"**_

The battle with the big alien was tough. Not only was it highly resistant to bullets, but also fired purple balls of energy that hit Gas-Mask once. His PCV took most of the damage but he was sent flying back as the others watched.

" _ **Alright, we should keep each other's asses safe."**_ Helix suggested.

" _ **And if one of us dies?"**_ Elihah asked.

" _ **Tough luck pal!"**_ Helix laughed as he fired a grenade onto the creature.

" _ **Fuck you, I'm not meeting Lady Death any time soon."**_ Elihah used an entire clip to injure it further.

" _ **Fuck you too! Just cover my ass!"**_ Helix got up and rushed to a different position.

The creature was now angry with how much it was getting injured, so decided to ram itself straight into anyone moving elsewhere. Adrian and David distracted it for short periods while the others fired more and more, it was bleeding, but not a lot.

" _ **We're running short here!"**_ David announced.

" _ **Shit, that's thing's coming close!"**_ Elihah fired some more rounds.

" _ **Get over here! Cover's decent!"**_ Helix waved a hand over and Elihah obliged.

Elihah made a mad dash over to Helix's position, but his equipment weighed him down significantly and it was hard to run at full speed. To make matters worse, the big alien had saw him and made its own mad dash towards the marine. Helix knew instantly what would happen.

Elihah wouldn't make it.

Time seemed to slow down as Helix pondered on what to do. Save his own skin, or save the skin of someone he barely knew. He knew that David and Ollie needed him, yet he had also seen Adrian's pain in losing that Wilfred person. He stared at Elihah desperately dashing, the fear in his eyes as the alien got nearer and nearer.

The needs of the many outweigh the few.

Helix rushed up to Elihah as he was confused why the Black Ops soldier was doing, not being able to even ask as Helix threw him to the side and opened fire his last shots onto the alien before its head collided with his chest, feeling everything break as he was thrown far off.

He hated being the hero sometimes, but damn did it also feel good.

" _ **YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"**_ Elihah raged as he dual wielded his Desert Eagle and M16 and fired.

" _ **MEDIC, HELIX NEEDS YOU!"**_ David cried out to the man in question, as he reached the broken Helix and dragged him away.

" _ **FIRE ON THAT FUCKING SHIT UNTIL IT'S BURNS!"**_ Ollie was not one for swearing, but when his own went down, he made exceptions.

The alien couldn't handle the amount the gun-fire placed on it as everyone's rage rained down on it, bullets eventually ripped through its hide and blood soaked the ground as the beast finally fell, the anger and rage were all it heard as the void took over its mind, and every memory.

Everyone had rushed over to Helix, who Medic was tending to, he had everything out trying to keep the soldier alive, but the look on his face told otherwise.

" _ **Will he…?"**_ David asked, yet didn't want the answer.

" _ **His ribs are broken and his lungs are ripped apart, internal bleeding is already taking effect and the morphine won't do anything to numb the pain. He's not gonna make it."**_ Medic shook his head and went to packing up his medical equipment, there was nothing he could do.

" _ **This… THIS WAS ALL YOUR FAULT ADRIAN!"**_ Ollie pushed Adrian and punched him in the face. Hard.

" _ **OH, SO I'M THE ONE WHO FUCKED UP?! I TRIED EVERYTHING I COULD TO HELP YOU, AT LEAST BE GRATEFUL FOR THAT!"**_ It was clear that Adrian was torn, maybe even crying.

" _ **HELP?! HE'S DYING FOR CHRIST SAKE, HOW DO YOU CALL THAT HELP, ASSHOLE?!"**_ Ollie pointed to Helix's dying body, about to throw another punch if Helix didn't stop him.

" _ **C-could you two… just… shut up and l-listen to me?"**_

Everyone, including a bickering Adrian and Ollie stood silent as they listen to what the degrading soldier had to say.

" _ **L-look… Ollie, you did… perfectly. Adrian too… I made the decision… to help. E-Elihah wasn't… wasn't going to make it. Fuc-fuck… look, don't argue you two… you're not getting out that way."**_

" _ **Then what? What about you?"**_ Ollie threw a hand at him.

" _ **Let Death… Death can take me. Y-you two… never spli-t up, you need… Oliie, Adrian. And Adrian, you… n-need Ollie. Don't… mourn for me now, d-do that once y-you get out of this… shithole."**_

" _ **Helix, I'm… sorry I couldn't get you out…"**_ Adrian sat down and clenched his fists.  
 _ **  
"Don't worry… I'm… I'm dying with people I've come to respect… Adrian… here…"**_

Helix, with help from David, managed to grab a Walkman from one of his pouches, it only contained one song, "Guns 'N Roses – Patience".

" _ **It's… a damn good song… Remember me, Helix Lewin… first to go… last to mourn…"**_

" _ **Say hello to Lady Death for me, and tell me if she's a looker."**_ Elihah was the last Helix would hear, as he held his hand in a comradely way.

" _ **Hehe… I-I sure will, you greasy HECU bastard… hehe…"**_

 _ **TRIAGE AT DAWN  
**_ _ **\- KELLY BAILEY, HALF-LIFE 2 OST**_

Helix's body soon had the life taken out of it as it went limp, and finally as Helix breathed his last breath.

Sergeant Helix Lewin, cover-up soldier, swearer, bad-ass fighter, now dead.

David could no longer handle it as she full-on bawled her tears out, with Ollie comforting her.

Medic and Jackson looked over the corpse, shaking their heads and sighing. Another soldier lost.

Calico went to pat Elihah on the back as he shifted his hand over Helix's eyes, removing his goggles and balaclava beforehand.

Gas-Mask kicked the ground, if only he had taken the hit.

The scientist offered to carry his body somewhere safe, none of them argued, or had the will to.

Adrian simply ripped off his dog tags and sat back down.

What would they do now? They'd get out of Black Mesa, for Helix, for Wilfred, for those unfortunates, the unlucky, the afraid.

 **[Flashback Ends]**

But that was another story, a story to be told within due time.

 ***Adrian's Temporary Abode, Beacon Academy***

Adrian had finished up reading the bestiary, and now he was nothing but tired. Getting up, he went to turn off the lights and returned to bed, pondering on a few thoughts in his mind.

He was here now, Remnant. But what about the past? He couldn't forget. Maybe if he tried, but he never could make it go away.

He shut himself up, shut his eyes and slept the hours away, the void over-took his eyes as he rested. At least this was voluntary unlike last time.

 _But a man, a soldier like him, he would never sleep well. Not with Black Mesa so fresh within him._

* * *

 **God, this took so long to do.  
**

 **Due to the fact that making Adrian's journey through Black Mesa a three-parter is... kind of pushing it, I'm saving it for later on in the fanfiction. Let's just say a new audience will get to see his journey alongside the people reading this.**

 **You may be wondering why they're so many characters, well they were all NPCs who follow you, _ones who also didn't follow you because their programming prohibited them to or they died literal seconds after they ran out of usefulness for Gearbox to keep them alive_. I figured I'd _try_ to give them names and some personalities, seems to be working fine for me so far.**

 **I'm always trying to keep these chapters under 10,000 words, but if you lot want more than I can gladly deliver.**

 **And also, upload times for these chapters will be random, I think you shouldn't have time-frames unless you have a lot of time or your chapters are extremely short, which are two things I don't have.**

 **Anywho, review time:**

 _ **Artyom-Dreizhen** \- Mhm, gotta agree with you. Adrian's just a blank slate ready to be given some colour, make him a good guy, make him a bad guy, silent characters with no solidified endings or backstory tend to be the best characters to use in cross-overs._

 **The usual saying goes, have any criticism? Feel free to speak and I'll make sure I can follow. And give any friendly comments too if you're feeling it.**

 **Until then, adios.**

 **\- MimicLegend**


	6. Problematic Formula

**If you don't know, a "twot" is British slang for someone who's identified as an 'absolute waste of time'.**

 **And if you're wondering why I added that one Japanese song you'll see soon, just read the bottom once you're done.**

* * *

 ***[UNKNOWN ERROR: LOCATION NOT FOUND]***

Adrian was standing when he found himself awoken so suddenly. He was expecting some rowdy kids to be playing some prank on him, he'd have to give them a lesson or two.

But the environment told him otherwise.

The mountains were collapsing and charred in soot and the skies were dark orange as he felt his breathing shorten, the air shrouded in dust and the smell of smoke and fire riddled the air. He saw bodies, hundreds and thousands of bodies lie on the ground, some completely charred and other half-burnt, horror plastered their faces.

"Where… the fuck am I?"

He did the first thing that came to mind, walk. He walked and walked as he took in everything, the bodies he had to strain himself to walk faster. Was this Hell? Or somewhere worse?

He swore he had heard his name being shrieked in the wind like witches in the night.

Adrian also swore audibly when some of the corpses started to rise, some were missing jaws, arms, legs, eyes, all he could think of. Adrian was now just confused and scared, what would the dead want with him?

They all pointed, the ones missing arms tilted their heads towards a sight that only peaked Adrian's confusion. There was a forest, a true, green forest that stood like a sore thumb in this wasteland of a place. The trees were healthy and there was even grass on the ground.

And so, he followed where they pointed, and as he stepped onto the grass, the corpses collapsed and turned into dust. Adrian just rushed into the forest, not wanting to return to whatever or wherever he had woken up in.

But what was in the middle of it scared Adrian the most, the same nuclear device that had been transported to one of Black Mesa's parking lots stood right in the middle of it, and a man in HECU uniform had placed his hand on the device, slowly stroking it like some animal he loved. But he looked similar…

No, it couldn't be, it shouldn't be.

The man stopped, before turning around. Adrian's breathing stopped and he choked on what he saw, he even started crying as he collapsed on his knees. What he thought was truly correct.

It was him, in the flesh.

" _Adrian, I need you to help me, to help us."_

His body moved without his consent, his arms waved, his legs rose. He tried to stop himself but some invisible force prevented him from even trying that.

"No. No what are you doing to me!"

" _Helping us."_

"I DON'T NEED TO HELP YOU, NO."

His arm raised, and the button that would activate the device glowed in his eyes, this wasn't helping, he was bringing Armageddon to a place so serene and calm. His copy didn't even react as he smiled.

" _Good Adrian, good."_

"STOP THIS YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!"

He continued walking, he continued resisting, but it was fruitless. His hand finally found itself above the accursed button, his hand slowly going down. He could do nothing but scream as he made contact, and the world went aflame.

Adrian screamed in absolute pain as the nuclear flames consumed him, tore through flesh and burned everything. He heard his copy call out to him, and as he died, the words he heard would carry him somewhere he would pay for the rest of his life.

" _This was all on you, Adrian."_

* * *

 ***Adrian's Temporary Abode, Beacon Academy***

The first thing Adrian heard as he awoke from his nightmare was his heavy breathing as he jolted up from his bed, absolutely sweating like he had ran around the world. Then the ecstatic knocking was heard, someone was here for him.

He quickly got out of bed and put on his equipment as well as a Walkman and his Scroll before unlocking the door. Behind it was the various teams who were acquainted with him. CFVY, RWBY and JNPR.

"What in the Oum happened?! We heard you screaming and thought something had happened!" Ruby cried out and pulled him into a hug.

Velvet also hugged him alongside Ruby, "Seriously, I'm just glad you're okay. What happened?"

Adrian let himself calm down as he rested himself on the doorframe. "Just a nightmare, don't worry about me."

"What the hell do you mean?! Nightmares don't get you screaming your head off now, do they?" Yang interjected, clearly not convinced it was any normal nightmare.

"I gotta agree with blondie, what the hell were you having nightmares about?"

Questions and questions flooded and over-took Adrian as their concerns and worries piled over him like the worst landslide imaginable.

"C'mon, what was it about?"

"Are you okay?"

"Do you need help or anything?"

"Maybe you need to see one of the professors."

"Someone needs to call the nurse, Adrian definitely isn't doing too well."

Adrian gritted his teeth as the questions continued, and then he snapped.

" **COULD ALL OF YOU JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP AND STOP QUESTIONING ME?!** "

The kids in front of him instantly froze at his comment, their jaws hung as they processed what Adrian had just said. Adrian soon froze as well, realising he had snapped and swore at a bunch of kids. Simple and caring kids.

"I… I need some air."

He pushed the others away as he made his way out of the dorms. For now, he needed some alone time, just himself.

"Humph, at least that loud-mouth idiot won't disrupt our sleep for a while." Everyone rolled their eyes at Weiss' comment.

"Seriously Weiss! He just broke down and you're worried about your sleep?!" Yang growled as the two got into a heated argument.

"Someone should go after him." Blake suggested. Everyone agreed except for the bickering two.

"Uh, ehehe, I think Blake and I need to uh, stop Weiss and Yang before they actually start fighting." Ruby rubbed her head and sheepishly smiled.

"Fine, me and my team will go look for Adrian." Coco stated.

"We will as well." Pyrrha nodded and smiled at Jaune, who jumped in surprise and quickly nodded.

While Team RWBY sorted themselves out, CFVY and JNPR went back to their dorms to change out of their pyjamas before starting the look for the Atlas Trooper. They checked high and low for any sign of him, he should've left some sort of trail yet he didn't, like he had floated away and disappeared.

"Jeez l'weez, this Adrian guy could be anywhere!" Nora shouted.

"Nora, don't. He'll hear us." Ren shushed his partner as she imitated a zipping action on her mouth.

"Where do you think he could be?" Pyrrha asked their leader.

"Oh! Uh, if he's taking in some air, he's obviously walking. Maybe around the academy." Jaune thought out loud.

"That's somewhere to truly start, we should split up and cover more ground." Pyrrha suggested to her team.

They all agreed as they spilt off to look for him. Nora decided to look for him in the kitchen and Ren had to follow her or she would do something disastrous. Pyrrha decided to look for him in the main buildings and Jaune went to the Main Avenue.

Jaune's venture provided to prove fruitful forever, as he saw Adrian standing in front of the statue listening to some music. Jaune ducked into a bush and used his Scroll to contact Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha, I found Adrian! He's at the Main Avenue near the statue."

"We'll be there, you should try talking to him."

"Wait what? I-I can't, what if I-

"Jaune, don't doubt yourself, I believe in you."

Pyrrha ended the call as Jaune had started sighing. He mustered all his courage and snuck far from him before popping out and walking towards Adrian from behind, who hadn't noticed the boy knight's presence.

"Hey Adrian."

The man in question paused the song on his Walkman and turned to the boy, who stood there with a nervous smile on his face.

"Hey kid, what brings you here?"

Jaune walked to Adrian's side. "Well we were worried about you, so we went to look for you."

"And the others?"

"Uh, they'll be here soon."

"All of them?"

"No, just my team I think, maybe CFVY too."

"Huh, alright then."

Both stood, staring at the statue as the dawn's breeze washed over them. Both stood for a while before Jaune decided to pop a question.

"So, uh, have you… ever been thrust into something you never wanted to be a part of?"

"Yeah, yeah I have."

"What was it?"

Adrian hesitated for some time, before deciding it wouldn't be too bad to say it.

"A mission I knew nothing about, where I had to become de-facto leader."

Jaune suddenly came to realise Adrian wasn't all so different to him, both knew nothing of this place, mostly anyway, and both had been leaders, ones who didn't want to be those kinds of people in the first place.

Then he also came to realise it was getting awkward.

"So, uh, Adrian… what's that thing in your hand? I've never seen it before."

"Oh this? It's a Walkman, used to belong to a friend."

"Who was he?"

"Helix Lewin, he was a good friend, even if I didn't know him for very long."

"Where is he now?"

"Dead."

"Oh… I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be, he died a hero."

Jaune's apologies sounded genuine at least, that helped Adrian reel from his nightmare.

"Jaune!"

Both men turned around to see Pyrrha, alongside Ren who was dragging Nora along as she consumed her pancakes.

"Hehe, morning pancakes~"

"Nora, it's 4:56 am."

"MORNING PANCAKES!"

Everyone took the time to laugh, Nora was always quite the bubbly girl.

"How did it go Jaune?" Pyrrha asked.

"It went pretty fine." Jaune chuckled as their team reunited.

"What 'cha learn?" Nora questioned.

"Well uh-

"Helix Lewin," Adrian interrupted. "This was his Walkman." He showed it for them to see.

"Was?" Ren titled his head.

"He's dead," He decided to twist the truth a little. "Died to the Grimm, but died a hero too."

Silence practically took over as they had just realised they had forced out a pushy topic to Adrian. Guilt riddled them as the silence continued. Pyrrha was the one who broke it, standing to Adrian's other side and trying her best to place her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry Adrian, why did you need to tell us?" Pyrrha asked the trooper.

"Hey, figure if you kids are going to stick with me, I'd tell you a few things. See it as an apology for shouting at you lot."

"Oh, well... We apologise as well for dumping all those questions on you when you were clearly stressed." Ren apologised, these kids were nothing but genuine.

"No worries, now how about a song?"

Adrian unplugged the headphones from his Walkman and played the song from the start. There were no lyrics but the starting instrumentals calmed the minds of everyone, even Nora was feeling a bit sleepy suddenly.

The lyrics had started perfectly as Team CFVY found them sitting by the statue. Coco was to say something but Adrian simply shut her up and told her to sit down and listen. The next few minutes had them humming to the tunes, apart from Nora who had fallen asleep on Ren's shoulder.

Team RWBY had settled themselves and found them all sitting down and humming to a song none of them had heard of at all. Ruby, Yang and Blake decided to join in but Weiss deemed it a waste of time and returned to their dorm to wait them out.

All hummed to the tune as the song soon ended. Everyone would've gotten up if the Walkman didn't start playing another song. Adrian had heard from Helix that "Patience" was the only song on it.

Then he realised he hadn't bothered considering Helix's playlists.

"Sneaky arse." Adrian mumbled to himself, he was glad he left a part of himself to the marine.

If there was one thing Adrian had learned during these musical hours, Helix had really liked Bee Gees. All their songs were on the Walkman and the disco ones had started playing first, so it was expected to see some of them jump up and start dancing.

"Damn Adrian, how come I've never heard of these guys?" Yang asked as she danced with her little sister.

"Oh, they were a local band from a village in Vacuo, they knew their music was one of a kind and so kept it that way even when they would die."

"That, is pretty understandable," Coco had Velvet in her arms as they danced. "These songs would be really good for the yearly school dance!"

Adrian chuckled to himself as he watched them all dance, even the quiet ones like Ren, Yatsuhashi and Blake had gotten up and moved to the rhythm, Disco was a special genre, and Helix had seemingly known that.

If only he were here now.

They danced for a few hours to various bands Helix had compiled onto the Walkman, some even showed some of their dance moves to the others. Yang was the best overall.

 _If only they saw me, heh._ Adrian checked the time, 7:04 am, they had been dancing for some time now.

"Alright you lot," Adrian turned off the Walkman as the teens all looked to Adrian. "You should get ready for classes, think they start at about 9:00 am or something like that."

"Aww, it was getting fun!" Yang pouted in a sarcastic manner.

"He's right though, we should get ready. We have plenty of time too." Blake added, but they all agreed with her as they waved goodbye to Adrian and went back to their dorms. He was suddenly jumped by a ringing as he scrambled to get his Scroll. Seeing it was Ozpin, he answered immediately.

"Ozpin?"

" _Hello Adrian, since you are awake, I'd like you to come to my office immediately. We and my staff have concerns that must be resolved."_

"On it sir, I'll be there."

Adrian put away his Scroll and made his way to Ozpin's office. He had almost forgotten about the nightmare thanks to those kids.

Maybe Remnant wasn't so bad.

* * *

 ***Ozpin's Office, Beacon Academy***

When Adrian had reached Ozpin's office, he had seen the faces of the various professors, but they all shared something, the faces of anguish. Adrian made the quick assumption that if Oobleck wasn't drinking as much from his mug, he was clearly troubled.

Adrian took his seat and sat down. And then Ozpin spoke.

"It is good you are here Adrian, we have looked through your journey through Black Mesa, and I am saddened of the fate of your allies, and disappointed in your government for not realising their situation."

"I'm pissed too sir, they were good people, and yet America, land of the free, not even Uncle Sam had their backs."

Port spoke. "The fauna of Xen and this 'Race X' is certainly interesting-

"And the flora too." Peach interjected.

"Yes yes, all of it is interesting. But we have our concerns placed elsewhere." Oobleck ushered the two to stay quiet.

Goodwitch, strangely, took a chair from the sides and put it next to Adrian's one, facing him as she sat down. "Our concerns fall on you, mentally. You've made it abundantly clear that your violence peaks when losing allies and worse, this could affect you strenuously if you were to lose anyone else. Don't get me started on the skulls you caved in when in rage."

"That is why we have decided to put your through weekly mental checks," Ozpin bluntly stated. "Your condition may worsen within due time, and it would help if we knew of your problems."

"I understand, sir." Adrian nodded.

"Please, call me Ozpin. You're not a student."

"But you are my superior."

"Hmm, that is true." Ozpin took his mug and drank from it.

"Now onto other matters. Your housing issue has been solved and a guest house will be given to you for the time you will be here. Your scroll is the only means of entering, others will have to get in through means of forced entry."

Adrian nodded, Ozpin continued.

"Furthermore, attending classes will be an optional choice for you in exchange for as I said, your skill-set in personally assigned missions."

"I'll attend, not fair for them to see me lazy about, plus some more knowledge from you lot would be nice."

"Understandable. And my last concern, I'd like to make a request."

"And that would be…?"

"I saw you with Team RBY, JNPR and CFVY. You have the qualities of a good leader, and a better friend. I want you to look over them and help them on their missions if they assigned them, but that is up to you."

"I'll think about it sir."

"Thank you, Adrian, you may leave now. I've sent up a student to direct you to your new home, I suggest you make haste to not keep them waiting."

Adrian nodded before heading off to the elevator to get to his home, giving a thumbs-up to the professors for no distinct reason, but they all smiled at his actions.

"Say, who did you send to lead Adrian to his home?" Goodwitch asked as the elevator descended.

"Adrian's first challenge." Ozpin simply answered as he took another sip from his mug.

* * *

 ***CCT Tower, Beacon Academy***

Adrian tapped out a rhythm with his boots as he descended to the lower levels of the CCT Tower, a new home, new education but most importantly, a new life.

Adrian couldn't stress enough to himself about the new opportunities that were in front of him. He would probably never know about what happened to Earth after Black Mesa, so he would need to try and discard it and think of what to do now.

These thoughts rushed his mind as he went through the lobby of the CCT. Most of the staff had been notified about the 'Atlas Trooper' as friendly waves went towards Adrian's way, of which he waved back.

Another thought came dominant, who would be the one directing him to his new home? Surely it be Velvet since the two were already acquainted with one another, or perhaps Jaune considering they had talked for a bit earlier in the day.

The voice that confirmed his thought however surprised him.

"Adrian!" A stern and cold voice rung out. Turning around Adrian groaned internally as he knew who were his directions to his home.

Weiss Schnee, the stuck-up bitch as he would call her. Adrian had initially thought of Weiss as just inconsiderate, and maybe even just a little introverted due to her distrust of him yesterday, but after hearing that Weiss had straight-out refused to join the early morning music session as she called it "an inconceivable waste of time", Weiss just became stuck up and worse, an even bigger brat than he thought.

"Uh, hi Weiss." Adrian made the shallow attempt to be as welcoming as possible, but Weiss definitely wasn't buying it.

"Dispense the pleasantries! I don't have the time for your nonsense. I'm going to lead you to your home, so be quiet while I do that." Weiss snapped at the marine as she waited for a response.

Adrian went completely blank for a few seconds, just thinking what had just transpired in front of him. Then he spoke.

"Oh, sure thing."

Weiss had thrown out such a 'Weiss-y' response it genuinely rendered Adrian confused for some time. Shaking his head, he let the girl lead the way, none of them even uttering a single word during their walk, only glances which Weiss couldn't see under Adrian's mask.

Long, strenuous, awkward as hell, all things describable to Adrian's predicament as they continued walking. Adrian feel that he needed to pop a question, but knew instinctively that Weiss would just fire back with her own snarky comment, and the loop would continue.

Well, he could try to break that loop, effort didn't hurt anyone.

"So, Weiss," Adrian started, which earned a glance from Weiss, gaining the heiress' attention. "Why didn't you join us earlier?"

"Tch, why would I waste my time with such trivial things?" Weiss fired back. Adrian tried to make a comment but she shut him up with a simple gesture. "Thanks to you, I woke up 4 hours before schedule and a huntress should be adequately rested to learn, which I am not."

"Well, I didn't sleep well either Weiss, we both got crappy sleeps today."

"Just shut up and keep walking."

"Weiss, jeez," Adrian stopped dead in his tracks which had Weiss turned around with an unamused face. "Why do you have to be like this?"

"What gave you the right to question me?" Weiss snarled.

"Basic right? Right of respect?" Adrian shrugged, of which Weiss replied by turning the opposite direction and walked once more, not even turning back to see Adrian still stationary.

"Hey, you're not just going to leave me here, right?!" Adrian questioned, she didn't respond though and Adrian sighed as he ran to catch up.

* * *

"We're here." Weiss simply announced.

Adrian took a good look at where he would be staying, either forever or if Beacon's staff could find him a way back to Earth. The guest house was practically the most modern-looking thing in Beacon Academy, the design of the exterior so intricate he couldn't put it into words, or perhaps he was too lazy to do that. A finely-placed gate barred the house from the two and a gravel footpath led the remainder of the walk.

"Huh, better than I thought." Adrian put it simply.

"Before I go, take this." Weiss seemingly took out a key from nowhere and shoved it into Adrian's face, of which he bluntly thanked her and took. "Now if you excuse me, I have things to attend to."

Weiss turned away from the trooper and paced off into the distance. Adrian stared as she became nothing but an indistinguishable blur as she made distance. "Not even a posh good-bye then." He put the key into the gate's keyhole and twisted it, unlocking the gate.

Pushing it open and then closing it once he was inside, he made his way to the house, following the footpath in front of him. He whistled out a peculiar tune about cowboys and outlaws before reaching the door, the last step. Then Adrian could do what the house had to offer.

"Now, if Ozpin was correct," Adrian fished his Scroll from his pocket. "This should work… I think."

Shifting his Scroll over the door's digital lock, it took a while for it to unlock but when it finally did, Adrian gripped the handle ever so hard and pulled down with all his strength, tumbling down onto the floor as the door flew open due to Adrian's weight.

"Ah, finally, home sweet new home." This was a whole lot different from relaxing. Getting up from his position, he decided now would be a good time to get a grip of his surroundings and see if the staff had left anything of his here.

The living room's couch served to hold a few new crates, two to be exact, of which not even Adrian knew Ozpin had possession of earlier. A single note also was left on one of them, which Adrian plucked from the cate and read.

 _Forgive me for any inconveniences, inside are items that will benefit your status greatly. I am aware of your doubt, and any inadequacies will be removed swiftly._

 _\- G-Man_

Strange, the G-Man was helping him once again, and Adrian felt it wouldn't be the last time he would encounter that suit-wearing enigma. Shrugging it off, he opened the crates to find extra gas-masks, helmets and PCVs, presumably for if the gear he had come into this world broke.

"Nice." Adrian made a simple comment. Deciding he would hide it later, Adrian spent the next few hours exploring the house and testing out everything that was inside, sure it was much like back at Earth, but Adrian made sure that was the case.

"Well, nothing new here." Adrian dug for his Scroll and checked the time. "8:00 am, I'll get there in about 10 to 15 minutes, I'll just wait for the rest of them." Adrian's attendance was optional, so he had no uniform on as he locked the entrance door, walked for a bit to lock the gate, and walked once more to the first class of the day.

* * *

 ***Professor Port's Class, Beacon Academy***

The walk to Port's class was uneventful most of the time, the students who had seen him fight during the Initiation waved at him, some decided to have quick talks and one or two even asked for an autograph. All the attention was nice, but unnecessary for a man trying to hide his life.

Reaching the class, Professor Port was busy at his table tending to his weapon, Adrian expected this as no teen would come to a class early to his knowledge. Port held a simple smile at the soldier as he made his way down to face Port.

"Ah, Mr. Shephard! I didn't expect you to be here considering the choices Ozpin gave you." Port gave the trooper a good handshake, of which Adrian returned.

"Well sir, more tabs on the Grimm via personal experiences would be nice. It's no good being unfamiliar with things you don't know about." Adrian commented.

"Hmm, true. Welcome to class Adrian! You may sit on the left, second row. Oh, and come see me after class, I'd like to discuss the weapons you had upon arrival." Port added while placing his weapon on a display above the boards.

"Got it." Adrian made his way to the assigned seat and sat down, taking out the Walkman and headphones, but not before Port noticed the small musical device and raised his brows in intrigue.

"I see you hold Mr. Lewin's device, I'm warmed to see you still hold onto it." Port eyed the device in Adrian's right hand.

"Why wouldn't I? He risked his own life and possibly his own family to get out with me. I just wish he were here now."

"No need to dwell on the past Adrian, I'm sure Mr. Lewin has done his deeds and earned himself a good place beyond."

"I'm willing to agree, sir." Adrian decided not to plug in the headphones in and turned on the Walkman, the first song that came up surprised Adrian more than Helix's apparent fanaticism to Bee Gees, and Port for it being very foreign to him.

 _ **LOVE THAT DOES NOT REACH  
**_ _ **\- SHIGAOKA UTAHA**_

"Oh, I don't understand this sadly, but it's quite calming none-the-less." Port noted as the lyrics began.

"Me neither sir, probably some Asian song. Looks Japanese seeing the name." Adrian didn't mind it anyway, as the tune entranced him into liking it despite the foreign nature.

"Japanese?" Port questioned, intrigued by this new word.

"Oh yeah, unlike this world where everyone's on four different "kingdoms", Earth has about six land-masses we call 'continents' not counting the one that's freezing cold and then smaller ones we call 'countries', each having their own towns and cities. That also means there's a wide range of languages to learn. Chinese, Mexican, Spanish, French, all with their own unique words and cultures."

"And you're saying you've populated your entire planet?" Port eyes opened wide in dwindling doubt.

"Correct, we don't have Grimm there, but we fight over ourselves for our own reasons." Adrian shook his head.

"Hmm, unfortunate, but correct once more as these "countries" aren't as united as the kingdoms." Port mused.

"Yep, they only look for mutual benefits, and more power if they need it." Adrian and Port spent the next few minutes listening to Helix's various songs before some students started entering, of which Adrian turned off the Walkman and shoved it into his one pockets.

Time passed by as Adrian watched a few more students enter. Fishing out his Scroll, he checked the time. "8:58 am, two minutes left." He whistled a tune as the time passed on, until there was only 13 seconds left until it would begin.

"Twelve…" Adrian counted in his head.

"Eleven…"

"Ten…"

"Nine…"

"Eight…"

"Seven…"

"Six…"

"Fi-

Adrian saw the colours of Team RWBY and JNPR burst through the door, falling onto either each other, the floor or an unlucky student. They all looked roughed up, their uniforms and hair a complete mess as some of the students around them laughed at their situation.

"Students, now is not the time for laughter." Port stated as the class quieted down. "As for Team RWBY and JNPR, I suggest you sort yourselves and sit down."

Said teams got up and got themselves looking appropriate for class before going to their seats. Ruby and Yang eagerly waved of which Adrian returned, Blake took a quick glance at the soldier before looking back down and Weiss held an annoying glare at Adrian, of which he simply shrugged.

Jaune and Pyrrha simply smiled, Ren did a quick nod. But Nora decided something else was necessary.

"HEY ADRIAN!" She shouted as loud as she could which earned a quick chastising from Ren. Adrian shook his head and chuckled.

Port waited for the teams to settle themselves before starting. "Alright! Welcome, huntsmen and huntresses in training to my class! I am Professor Port, responsible for teaching you lot the dangers of the Grimm and how to effectively combat them!"

He paused, waiting to see if the students were listening. Some were, including Adrian who was already noting things down, and some were not at all. Port sighed internally, at least some would learn. He continued.

"Monsters! Demons... Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey! Ha-ha!"

Awkward silence filled the room with Port's awful joke. Adrian saw Ruby jolt up from her nap, and he sighed in mere disdain. _First class of your damn school life and you're already making a joke out of yourself!_

"Woo! Nice one Port!" Adrian felt Port's pain of trying to entertain his students, it reminded him of drill instructors shouting indecent words at troubling recruits. Port needed some credit for trying anyway.

"Thank you... And you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy! Now, as I was saying: Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses..."

Port gave the female students a wink and a click, both made said students extremely uncomfortable, especially Yang who gave out a discomforting and quiet groan. Port glanced at Adrian, who simply shook his head rapidly and gestured for him to basically cut the crap.

"Ahem… Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what, you ask? Why, the very world!"

"Ayyyy-yep!" A male student with black hair and goat horns rose from his seat and cheered, and was met with glances from everyone. He sat back down, embarrassed with himself.

"At least you tried kid." Adrian nodded at the boy, who gave a thumbs-up before both looked back at the professor.

"That is what you are training to become. But first: A story. A tale of a young, handsome man... Me! When I was a boy..."

The story to some, was just incoherent babbling. To others, it was interesting to hear but nothing too important on. To Adrian, this tall tale hit him personally. A story about Port's plump nature, his grandfather's status as a legendary Huntsman, and his quest to overcome all the negativity of said nature and make his older man proud.

It reminded him of his childhood, although that brought along bad memories. So, he continued hearing Port's story, reaching a part where his younger self had come home after a beating from bullies.

"Despite smelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man, experienced and confident despite his age. 'Peter', he told me..."

Then ranting on about how he had stolen his grandfather's weapon to prove himself worthy of carrying the Port legacy, Adrian noticed Ruby in the corner of his eye showing her team a drawing. Glancing over, Ruby was messing around once more, holding a crudely drawn Professor Port renamed "Professor Poop" and blowing a quick raspberry.

Blake smiled at Ruby's antics, Yang chuckled and gave her sister a high-five, Weiss groaned and slammed her head onto the table, annoyed beyond belief and Adrian felt a vein pop in his head, but ignored it and Ruby's behaviour for now.

"Ah-heh-hem!" Port coughed slightly as he saw Ruby messing around, of which she hid the paper behind her back and sheepishly smiled, thinking Port would just continue.

But he didn't.

"Miss Rose, mind I ask what you've been noting, or perhaps, **drawing**? Don't think I did not notice! An expert Huntsman or Huntress must juggle their priorities to survive!" Ruby stammered, but was saved when Adrian raised his hand.

"Sir, I'll take care of this." Port nodded and Adrian proceeded with a light chop to the back of Ruby's head before snatching the paper from her as he tried to numb the pain, crumpling it up and placed it on his desk while murmuring "Fuckin' twot" under his breath.

Port thanked Adrian before continuing. "And as I saved my mother from that mangy Beowulf with my sheer tenacity and love for my family, I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero, and a worthy carrier of the Port name!"

Those who didn't listen sat in silence, unsure of what had just happened while those who did applauded, Adrian being the loudest.

"You're the man Port!" Adrian managed to conceive from his lips.

Port bowed. "Thank you all! And so, the moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honourable and stalwart when plights introduce themselves!"

Ruby didn't give a single care of Port's words as she made a balancing act with a pencil, book and apple as she made a stupid look on her face, earning the approval of Blake and Yang but the anger of Weiss and disapproval of Adrian.

"A true Huntsman of Huntress must be dependable, and ready to protect those who cannot fight their fights!"

Ruby however, had fallen asleep once more in the first class of the year. Weiss was clearly in pent-up rage as her muscles tightened and her nails clawed at the desk to calm herself. Adrian used Ruby's crumpled drawing as a projectile, throwing it at her head accompanied with a "Wake the hell up kid!"

"And a Huntsman or Huntress must be strategic to fight, well-educated to decide, and most importantly, wise! The power of wisdom shall give you victory against the enemy!"

Ruby meanwhile, was no-so subtlety picking her nose as Weiss subtly shook violently and quietly screamed. Adrian burrowed his hands onto his face, giving up on trying to get Ruby to concentrate.

"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

Weiss suddenly surprised everyone by slamming her hands onto the table with her rage amplified and raised her hand, growling in the scariest way she could.

" _ **I do, sir…!"**_

Port laughed a hearty laugh. "I like your attitude Miss Schnee! Now come and face your opponent! Remember what I've said, and you shall succeed!"

As she swiftly got herself up, Adrian looked at the cage in front of him, and could hear the comments of various students in the class, including that of RBY.

"Jeez, what was up with her?" Yang asked. Blake simply shrugged and waited for the upcoming fight.

"Well, perhaps she's reaaaally pumped-up representing Team RWBY! We should cheer her on!" Ruby gleefully spoke, painfully unaware of what had transpired beforehand.

Adrian knew however, seeing Weiss being twice as angry at Ruby as she made petty attempts calming herself. He had read a book on Dust yesterday and found that the SDC was one of the top exporters of Dust, Weiss being one of the family members of the owner. She was sophisticated unlike Ruby, so it made sense.

He just hoped her anger didn't control her as his did back at Black Mesa.

Weiss stepped out as Adrian pondered on the thought, fully dressed in her combat attire and her rapier by her side. She was fully determined and ready, shown with the stance and attitude she was expressing as she unsheathed the rapier from her hip and faced it towards whatever was in the cage.

"Go Weiss!" Yang pumped her fist up into the air.

Blake decided to join in their antics as she held a flag that had come out of nowhere. "Fight well!"

"Look at the flag Weiss!" Ruby cheered to the snowy girl "You're representing us! Team RWBY!"

Weiss bared her teeth and lowered her rapier, growling. "Ruby, I am trying to focus thank you very much!"

Ruby lowered herself, along with her team at Weiss' comment. "Oh, sorry…" Ruby blurted out.

 **ADRENALINE HORROR  
** **\- KELLY BAILEY, HALF-LIFE OST**

Adrian saw whatever in the cage was thrashing about and getting more violent, and even heard a squeal come out from it. He knew what the Grimm was, and Adrian hoped to himself that Weiss fight efficiently.

Port had his axe ready as he aimed for the lock. "Alright! Let this fight… begin!"

Port sliced the lock clean off and the Grimm in the cage immediately attack as it rolled right towards Weiss, of which she utilised the rapier to block the incoming roll and rolled aside, getting up and tightened her grip on the rapier.

 _Boarbatusk,_ Adrian thought. _This'll be interesting._

Both opponents took the opportunity to study one another. While the Grimm was pacing, and waiting for the right turn to attack, Weiss left no chance as she used her glyphs to speed herself up and skewer the beast in the skull, which would've happened if the rapier didn't get stuck between the Boarbatusk's, well, _tusks._

Weiss gripped onto her rapier even harder as she put all effort into loosening the rapier, being tossed around as she soured up and pulled it with much more force once the Boarbatusk landed her onto solid ground.

 _Crap! She's letting herself get angry. Come on Weiss, calm the hell down._ Adrian keenly watched on. _This isn't good, Boarbatusk's going to take advantage of this._

"Come on Weiss, show that Grimm who's the boss around here!" Ruby cheered.

Weiss shot a frightening glare as she wished she could shove some cloth down her throat and shut her up. In that train of thought however, the Boarbatusk took the chance to jerk its head back and exploit Weiss' lack of attention at the time. The rapier clanged as it impacted the ground, far away from Weiss.

"Oh-ho! Now what will you do without your weapon?" Port heartily laughed as the match continued.

 _Dammit Weiss, don't lose here now!_ Adrian leaned in closer.

The girl in question looked for the Boarbatusk, which was conveniently barrelling right towards her. Rolling out of the way as to not get crushed, she managed to run to her rapier and place herself in her normal stance as the Boarbatusk recovered from hitting a desk.

Adrian pondered once more. _Alright, now that she's got the weapon, brute force isn't cutting it. Exploit a weakness or-_

"Weiss, go for the belly! There's no armour underneath!" Ruby loudly suggested to her struggling teammate.

 _That works too._

Weiss growled like some sort of bedtime monster and faced Ruby, her face teeming with sweat and he face expressing the meanest face possible, all the while legitimately screaming at her like a mother who had found out her kid had done something wrong.

" _ **Stop telling me what to do… YOU DOLT!"**_

The entirety of Team RBY stopped cheering as they blankly stood quiet, processing what Weiss had just let out. Adrian just sighed.

 _Great, she's no longer in any condition to efficiently finish this some other way, she can only go on with Ruby's decision now._ Adrian rubbed his temples as the fight went on.

The Boarbatusk, taking advantage of Weiss' brief anger leapt and rolled itself into a ball, charging at the unsuspecting Huntress-In-Training still fuming over Ruby's idiocy. She heard the squeal come close and barely managed to summon a glyph to block the roll, flipping it and exposing the underside.

Weiss back-flipped upwards and summoned a speed glyph behind her, launching herself at the vulnerable Grimm as she drove her rapier into the belly of the beast, it squealing in pain as it met it's untimely death. The class cheered alongside Port while Adrian and RBY remained silent.

Weiss took some time to let the adrenaline falter and rest, panting and coughing profusely before standing herself up and shakenly bowing.

"Bravo! Bra-vo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress-in-training!" Port complimented the girl who had given her 100% into killing the creature of Grimm.

 _I'd say otherwise, Port._ Adrian said to himself. _Sloppy tactics during the fight, let her anger get to her too, distracted too much. She made that fight harder than she needed it to be._

Port gave a light slap on Weiss' back which earned him a smile from the girl. "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and stay vigilant! Class dismissed!"

Adrian got up from his desk and went to Port, watching Weiss quickly stomp her way out with Ruby eventually tailing behind her secretly. The trooper and professor watched the students make their way out.

"Enjoy the lesson?" Port asked Adrian.

"Yeah, the story was nice but I didn't learn much extra about the Grimm, although the fight gave me some tabs on Weiss at least." Adrian replied, Port slowly nodded his head.

"I'll make sure I fix that." Port stated. "Tell me, you weren't the only one who saw what was going on, were you?"

"Just me sir, I assume we're talking about Weiss." Port nodded at Adrian's assumption, which had the trooper swear under his breath.

"The last thing this academy needs are a divided team. I remember Ozpin requested you remedy any of their problems, will you follow up on that?" The professor asked.

Adrian took some time to think before answering. "I'll try. Weiss just needs some space for now, I'll go look for her when the time's right."

Port lent out a handshake for Adrian to take, of which the trooper did. "I know you will. Godspeed Mr. Shephard."

* * *

 ***Cafeteria, Beacon Academy***

Being Adrian's "mission" to mend any of the requested team's problems, the first place he decided to go was the cafeteria, not to eat but to simply discuss. Making his way there, he opened the doors leading inside, and was blasted with the volumes of voices and eating.

Adrian scouted for where Team RWBY would be sitting and found Ruby waving him over to a vacant seat. Sprinting over, he greeted them all before sitting down, noticing that Weiss was missing and Team JNPR was also with them.

"So, you come here to eat?" Ruby cheerfully asked.

"Uh, not really. Just wanted to talk for a bit." Adrian answered.

"Well we're delighted to have you here." Pyrrha was very polite for her age.

"YEAH!" Nora raised her fists up into the air and fell off her seat.

"Nora…" Ren went to pick her up and a discussion soon began.

"Did you guys see Weiss? She just came in, ordered her food then went out without even saying hi." Yang started off.

"You should give her some space." Blake suggested, which they all generally accepted.

"What was with her anyway?" Jaune asked the rest. Most replied with shrugs or didn't answer.

"Thanks anyway." He rubbed his head at their silence.

"We should make her pancakes!" Nora eagerly said as she recovered from her fall earlier. "Pancakes always make me happy! Why can't pancakes make her happy too?"

"Nora, everyone is different from one another. We cannot ensure Weiss will feel happy eating pancakes." Ren bluntly stated to the ecstatic girl.

"No shame in trying!" Nora attempted to rush off and find Weiss but was held back by Ren, blank as ever.

"Nora's kinda right. I mean me, Blake and Ruby are her team. We should at least comfort her." Yang said to the others, Adrian shook his head as Yang held a face looking like she had been personally offended.

"Trust me Yang, the last thing we want is a still ticked off Weiss. Let her blow off some steam, then you go look for her." Adrian stared into her eyes expecting an answer.

"I… guess that makes sense." Yang, defeated, went back to eating her food.

Many of the teens would've started to ask Adrian questions now, but those thoughts were short-lived when insults started to be heard behind Adrian.

"Look at her, think those ears are real?"

Everyone on the desk turned around to see Velvet being bullied by four boys, all instantly knew the boys in particular were Team CRDL, a first-year team who took it upon themselves to bully Velvet during break. Adrian hardened up, but watched to see what Velvet would do, and if she followed up with his advice.

 **[Meanwhile…]**

Coco watched as her partner's rabbit ears were being pulled and verbal threats and insults were thrown at her, angered even more by the fact that the "Atlas Trooper" made no attempt to intervene at all.

Once the bullies had left, not before spitting on the girl as she descended into crying her heart out. Coco gritted her teeth and cracked her knuckles, intending to give Adrian a lesson on how she dealt with bystanders.

She would've done so, if Yatsuhashi didn't grip onto her shoulder.

"Let me go, Yatsu." Coco gnarled.

"No." Yatsuhashi gave a blank stare to Coco, which she returned with a growl.

"I can't just let him get away with this!" Coco interjected as she went to forcefully unhand herself from her teammate.

"Listen." Yatsuhashi pointed to where Velvet was, and Coco turned to see Adrian comforting Velvet. Getting closer by a few paces, she listened into their conversation.

"Velvet! Velvet listen to me!" Adrian attempted to get Velvet speaking, shaking the rabbit faunus.

"I-It didn't work Adrian!" Velvet sobbed as she found difficulty talking. "T-they didn't l-listen!"

"I saw, and you tried your best okay?" Velvet was still crying and Adrian grabbed her by the face cheeks and had her stare directly into his mask. "Listen to me kid, when you're confronted by bullies, you got to see if they're the type that listens or not."

Adrian pulled her face closer to his. "These guys obviously aren't the ones who would listen. But I am damn proud you tried to stand up for yourself, you've helped yourself and your team, and me as well. Now what will you do?"

Velvet sniffled and wiped her tears away. "Try again?"

Adrian patted her on the head, which surprised and flustered Velvet. "That's your choice, but if they continue after you've tried everything, just scream out 'Goose 7', I'll kick their asses if I have to."

Velvet pulled the trooper into a hug, crying her last tears onto his PCV. "Thank you… Adrian."

Adrian let her take her time before she ended the embrace and stood up. "Just doing what's needed." He got himself up and walked over to RBY and JNPR's tables, taking a quick glance after settling down and seeing Coco hug her partner, Yatsuhashi and Fox looking on.

"Nice hero work Adrian!" Yang complimented and offered a fist-bump, which he lazily accepted.

"Thanks." Adrian looked around and saw that Ruby was missing from her seat. "Where's Ruby?"

"She said she wasn't feeling too well and needed fresh air, I would go but like you said, I should give her some time." Yang answered solemnly.

"Any specifics?" Adrian waited for an answer.

"Yeah, one of the trees behind the cafeteria." Yang gave out.

"I'll check it out then, at least see what's up with her." Adrian got up from his seat and started to walk out.

"That's contradictory to what you said earlier." Blake said as she read her book. Adrian replied with a shrug before walking out and going behind the cafeteria.

 _Why does the_ _ **first**_ _day have to have so many problems?_ He thought to himself.

* * *

 ***A random tree, behind the Cafeteria***

Adrian saw the petite form of Ruby huddled behind a tree. Scouting the area, he went forward and faced her as she looked upwards to see the still scary sight of Adrian's gas-mask. She jerked upwards, but calmed down when she recognized Adrian.

"What are you doing here?" She said to Adrian, lowering her head again.

"Checking up on you." Adrian saw that she had recently been crying, seeing tear stains on her arms and tinges of red in her eyes. "This is about Weiss isn't it?"

Ruby shuffled back and huddled herself tighter. "H-how'd you know?"

"I saw what happened during class. Now tell me, what happened after class?" Adrian asked for her story. Gulping, Ruby let her limbs flail down as she told what had happened.

Weiss ended up sending her rage towards Ruby with full force, stating with the study and experience she had, she should've become leader, no doubt about it. She then talked with Ozpin asking if her place as leader was a mistake, which he replied with a statement about his own mistakes and her title as leader.

"I agree with Ozpin, being leader's a daunting responsibility, and it's not about the skill you have in battle but rather if you've got what it takes for others to follow you." Adrian leaned back onto the tree, processing the story.

"I could have people following me, but what about the skills? Weiss is better than me at that." Ruby whimpered out.

"Then do what you should do, learn from your mistakes, perhaps let Weiss teach you how to be a leader. Being one isn't just also about being the strongest there is, but also being able to be efficient and willing to learn as well." Adrian assured her.

"That's easy for you to say. You're _smart_ and you know how to _fight_ too, you're a better leader than Weiss and I combined." Ruby shot back at Adrian.

"I didn't want to be a leader."

"Wait what?" Ruby had to process what Adrian had just said.

"I **did-n't** want to be a **lea-der**. That title was handed over as soon as my sergeant died, not earned or given." Adrian explained.

"Adrian…" Ruby stared in fear but Adrian continued none-the-less.

"Look Ruby, you may not want to be a leader, but you just have to put up with it. Shit happens sometimes and when it comes with it, you keep rolling. You may not be able to compensate with Weiss' skill, but you can with the morale you've been giving to everyone."

"But-

"No, if you don't want to be a leader, then leave this academy and _**never**_ come back. But if you do, then confront Weiss head-on, no setbacks, just you and her. Don't leave her hanging like this, she'll hate you even more for that." Adrian stated.

"A-are you sure?" Ruby stammered and stuttered.

"Positive. We'll go look for her, okay?" Adrian got up and held out a hand.

"We can do that." Ruby got herself up instead of taking his offering.

"Then let's begin. Follow me."

The two got up and walked, hopefully they'd find Weiss in time.

* * *

 **Hey, this one didn't take as long now, did it?**

 **Anyway, you may have seen how I made Weiss' fight with the Boarbatusk more difficult. I decided for this as a way to push the message of "Weiss really hates Ruby for suddenly waltzing into Beacon and becoming leader". I've also had Ruby doubt herself a lot more, of which I'll be doing a lot with this fanfiction of mine.**

 **As for "Love That Does Not Reach", yes I know it was released far beyond Adrian's existence on Earth (2017 to be exact) and yes I also do know that the song is some sort of remake or remix of "Todokanai Koi" from the visual novel "White Album 2" (which honestly nearly fits within the fact that Adrian was taken somewhere before 2009, and the original song only being released in 2010) but god damn it took only one listen for me to just adore it, I had to add it in somehow, even if it's a bad choice.**

 **Adrian's nightmares will also be a plot point, it'll be explained eventually.**

 **Time to answer a question:**

 **WowohWow0** \- Knowing that Spore Launchers can survive being out of water for quite a bit (basically Adrian just takes one and it survives even after the Gene Worm's defeat), it's currently in the possession of Professor Port and is safe, although I'm making it so that growth into an adult Shock Trooper is completely halted when out of water.

 **Next chapter, it's teacher time. Adios for now.**

 **\- MimicLegend**


	7. He Says No Thank You

***A random hallway, Beacon Academy***

The search so far, had borne no results for Adrian and his rosy companion. Every hallway, every vacant room and balcony they had been through, Weiss wasn't to be found in it. Despite the context of this hunt particularly contradictory, Adrian thought it would be a good idea to know Weiss' location beforehand.

"Can't… keep walking." Ruby collapsed onto the carpet of the hallway and laid down in absolute bliss, for the time she was on it.

"We've been walking for 6 minutes. Get up." Adrian grabbed the petite girl by her shirt collar and dragged her, Ruby resisting Adrian's grip as one pulled the other's weight.

"You're a leader sure, but you still have a lot to improve on." Adrian chided as he continued to drag the freshly-appointed leader.

"Can't you teach me?" Ruby asked, finally resolute into letting Adrian drag her to where ever he was going.

"I already said, I never wanted to be a leader. What's there to teach anyway?" Adrian answered blankly letting go of Ruby as their march continued.

"Lots of things! Besides, you looked pretty happy leading us during initiation." Ruby chimed as she got up and dusted herself up.

"Well you'd be dead if I didn't. I just like fighting that's all." Adrian laid back against a wall. "If you're tired, then let's rest."

"Sure." Ruby sat down and laid onto the wall facing Adrian. "So, you like fighting others?"

"The HECU tends to train that idea into its recruits." Adrian said to the girl. "Doesn't mean we kill for the fun of it though, most of us anyway." He knew, somewhere in himself that the HECU had died at Black Mesa, he wondered how long he could keep the façade up.

"Do you… kill people then?" Ruby slowly let out. Adrian let out a small click before rubbing his head.

"When it's necessary. The operations I went through don't tend to be the friendliest." Adrian coughed and went back to lying against the wall.

"But you don't have to kill people, you could just-

"Just can it. I don't want to learn about how my morality is wrong on all accords, this search for Weiss is draining me out already." Adrian let out a loud groan as she got himself standing and turned to the girl in red. "You coming kid?"

"Sure, I guess." Ruby squeaked as she also stood up before accompanying the man in green.

None of them talked for the last few minutes. Adrian was severely disappointed in how idealistic these kids were, sure they may have the same amount of aura and bravado as a sergeant would, but at least the sergeants knew killing was necessary. Do or die, the aliens and Black Operations back at Black Mesa had taught him that lesson.

Much could be said for Ruby, maybe Adrian wasn't the ideal person she had saw him as, but rather just a someone trying to tread through life as carefully as he could. She would never come to terms of killing a person, it was evil, and it made the killers as bad as the villains running amuck in Vale.

But did that make Adrian a bad person? That would be a yes and no answer.

She heard the sigh of a disgruntled man as Adrian spoke to her. "See me for who you want to see, but being a protector means you're going have to permanently put down a few folks. If you want to make the world sunshine and rainbows, go for it. But good luck spending the rest of your life doing that."

Ruby let his words sink in. Did being a Huntress really mean she'd have to murder? No, she could change that, she didn't have to slaughter just to protect, but she couldn't help thinking he was right, she wanted to be like the heroes in the tales her mom used to tell her, or was that just a façade too, that being a hero meant doing what the villains did?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the distinct sound of a Scroll, but it wasn't hers. Seeing Adrian take out his own and pick up however was calling him, she stood back as he did some talking with whoever was calling him.

"This is Shephard… Oh shit, I forgot… Yeah I'll be there soon. Where's the office… Okay, I should take care of a few things… Thanks Port, see you soon."

Adrian let out a whistle as the call ended, he knelt to the height where he could place his hand on Ruby's shoulder, coughing like he was going to start some presentation about politics before starting.

"I forgot to do something for the staff, so I got to go do that thing." Adrian rose and walked away. "If you find her, try and talk to her!"

"B-But what if I can't?!" The rosy girl shouted to Adrian.

"Just… alright here's my Scroll's number." Adrian held out said number for the girl to note down. "Just text me, or call me, preferably call me, if you find her. I'll talk, then you apologize."

Ruby watched as Adrian sprinted off to what she assumed to be Professor Port's office, she stood in silence as she remembered what she was supposed to be doing. Almost wanting to go back to the tree and sit, she shook her head. She had a mission, even if she was slightly scared of what could happen.

* * *

 ***Professor Port's Office, Beacon Academy***

Adrian sat in a chair as he stared at Port's admiringly large office. For a man who specialised in the fine arts of slaying Grimm with upmost efficiency, the room seemed to also scream that.

Taxidermy heads of various Grimm were fixed onto the walls, adjacent to a bookshelf containing vast volumes of Grimm-slaughtering material. Various enrichment posters of learning about the Grimm were strewn across the walls and a glass case containing an antique gun of sorts stood right next the door. Port's desk had several wooden statues of miniature Grimm and the reports of Beacon's students were piled neatly next to Port's right.

 _Talk about grim._ Adrian subconsciously thought not even bothering to think about the pun he made.

"Now, I may not be an expert when it comes to what we use to slay the beasts outside our walls, but I am interested of the applications yours possess." Port opened the crate of his weapons and took out the first. "I'd just like a general description of what your weapons are capable of."

Adrian stared down at the first gun in front of him. "Oh, that one's a Beretta 92FS, runs on 9x19MM Parabellum rounds. It's basically a pea-shooter in terms of power but you won't know the amount of times it's saved me when scoring for headshots, deadly accurate. Also has a rapid-fire mode that lets it chew up more bullets in exchange for putting down something faster."

The professor nodded in approval of this new-found information as most of their talks had Adrian call out his weapons and other special tid-bits, like his Laser Tripmines or Satchel Charges. The Combat Knife and Pipe Wrench needed no explanation, with the Barnacle Grapple, Spore Launcher, Shock Roach and Displacer Cannon being the main points of discussion.

"Now, about this thing!" Port struggled to get a grip on the flailing bio-weapon as it attempted to escape the grasp of Port's hands as he pinned it onto the table.

Luckily for the sweating professor, Adrian went in to give the Spore Launcher a quick stroke on its "head", earning a coo as the weapon calmed down.

"Ah, thank you! Now I've seen many unique weapons in my life as a Huntsman, but a bio-organic weapon? Say there's a lot of right and wrong with that."

"True, but I don't think it cares, nor knows of what I do with it." Adrian gave the Spore Launcher a pat on the head.

"Perhaps you're correct. Still, it acts almost affectionate to you." Port would notice that the thing would flail whenever Port made contact with it.

"Considering I freed it from a glass container, care for it constantly and feed it consistently, I say it's thought process is pretty understandable." Adrian shrugged and watch the Spore Launcher lay dormant on Port's now messy table.

"About feeding, I and Professor Peach noticed that this creature regurgitates the fruit it consumes, I can only assume this is through force?" Port raised a brow at the marine.

"I may have kept it barely alive during my time at Black Mesa, but it's better than it being left for dead in that container and me having slightly less of a chance to get out of there alive." Adrian harrumphed. "I had my teams, but you know what happened to them…"

"Let's not bask on those topics." Port stayed silent for some time before speaking.

Port continued. "Forgive me for forgetting to tell you, but I'm also collaborating with Peach to make sure these bio-organic weapons are housed safely as you are. I simply wish for permission to house them in your home rather than the few inconspicuous places we have here."

Adrian stared bewildered at what Port said. "I mean, I'm sure you could've come to a conclusion already, right?"

"Ozpin called upon housing them with you the best decision with the factors he's placed onto you, although he wanted to be polite and ask first." Port answered.

"Well talk about a gentleman huh? Anyway, as long as none of the kids around here see them and they get to my house safely, I say the staff can go ahead." Adrian smirked under his gas-mask.

Port gave a reassuring smile and moved onto the next weapon in Adrian's arsenal, the Barnacle Grapple. Although the thing was very much alive like the Spore Launcher, it remained timid, almost still as he placed it onto his table.

"Another bio-organic weapon, although I and Peach have found no indications of any offensive capabilities. Tell me, who does this one work." Port raised his head to stare into the green tint of Adrian's mask.

"Stick your hand into the rear."

"Stick my hand up what now?"

"Stick your hand into its ass, opening, I don't know what it is Port but it starts working when you do it." Adrian affirmed to the professor.

Port very reluctantly looked onto his right hand before with a disgusted look, proceeded to slowly push his hand into the hole of the Barnacle Grapple, with the thing starting to flail wildly as he did it. For Port it was the worst experience in his life, for Adrian it was another day in the office.

"Not pleasant, but you get used to it." Adrian blankly said.

"I don't think I want to get used to it." Port bared his teeth in worry as some of his arm was surrounded by the Barnacle Grapple. "Now as I said before, how does it work?"

"Well, it's not a weapon, more of a utility tool. I call it the Barnacle Grapple since it's a disconnected version of the Barnacles back at Black Mesa and it serves as an organic grapple hook." Adrian shuddered as he remembered a few unlucky scientists being eaten alive by Barnacles.

"Organic grapple hook…" Port inspected the bio-tool, a little more comfortable than before. "I assume it grapples onto organic objects?"

"Correct. If it's lighter than the thing itself, it'll drag it towards itself and eat it. If it's bigger, or attached to an organic surface, it'll drag the user towards what it's grappled to." Adrian explained.

"So, by example, if a mouse were to be grappled it would've been dragged towards the Barnacle and eaten. But if let's say, a human was to be grappled onto, then it would drag the user towards said human." Port elaborated.

"Well put sir." Adrian would've given the man a hand to shake but went with a nod instead.

"I don't see much application, aside from a few specific situations." Port grumbled as he pulled his hand out of the "opening" of the Barnacle Grapple and put it back into the box.

"Saved me a few times." Adrian said as he thought back onto his fight with the giant worm-armed alien, he still didn't know what to call it.

"Now, what about the thing on your arm?" Adrian raised his eyes in confusion, then mentally face-palmed when he realised the Shock Roach was still on his arm.

How did Adrian manage to get through two days in Beacon Academy with this thing on him? Did the students see it as bad cosplay? Perhaps sheer dumb luck was on his side? Or maybe someone had forgotten to mention it earlier…?

Let's not think about the whats and whens.

"I don't know much about these things. Other that they cling onto you like glue and the Shock Troopers used them, not much to say." The trooper said.

"Anything else you'd like to mention?" Port asked.

"Well, there's probably something special in the Shock Trooper blood or genes, because their shots hit like bowling balls compared to mine which hurt as much as a limply thrown cabbage." Adrian held a painful smirk, reminding himself of the times when Shock Troopers got clean hits on him, and his former team.

"They also don't rely on ammunition of any kind. Just give them a breather and they'll be able to fire again. They only do that if they're attached to an arm though." Adrian continued as he stared at the Shock Roach on his arm.

"What does it fire anyway?" Port asked.

"Looks like plasma of some sort, considering it burned through my clothes and gave me burn wounds when I was shot the first time." Adrian answered.

 _Plasma? Atlas hasn't even made progress with plasma due to its dangerous qualities and yet this "Race X" harnessed it bio-organically._ Port mentally noted to himself. "Try and not to use it too much then. Plasma is a dangerous substance that can burn through Aura easily."

"No promises if the enemy fires first, sir." Adrian harrumphed.

"True words of a soldier indeed." Port admitted as he took out the final weapon in the crate, Adrian's piece de résistance, the Displacer Cannon. Port couldn't help but marvel at the design and what it could do. The decimation of large creatures in mere seconds and self-teleportation to Xen was something Remnant could benefit from.

"Now, I already know what this weapon is capable of, but I'd like your opinion on the implications of if Remnant were to get a hold of Earth's technology." Port waited for the answer he somewhat expected.

"They shouldn't, not even if it benefits Remnant significantly, I will not let another world go through another Black Mesa Incident again. I don't care if Remnant becomes some sort of trans-galactic empire and everyone's hunky dory, the Black Mesa Incident will **never** happen again." Adrian growled at the thought of someone going through the same ordeals he did.

"You have very strong opinions about it." Port mused as his Scroll started ringing. He when to pick it up as Adrian sighed, unclenching his fists he subconsciously clenched.

"You have no idea sir."

Adrian took out his defunct radio and started playing with it all while Port talked with whoever was on the other side. The trooper didn't bother to listen as he aimlessly tried to get a frequency.

"Ah Goodwitch! What is it you needed... Yes, I have finished with Adrian… Yes, I'll send him over." Port ended the call before placing the Displacer Cannon in the crate and closing it.

"What does Goodwitch want with me?" Adrian asked as he got up from his seat and went to the door.

"She'll tell you once you get there. She's just down the hall." Port smiled at the green-clad trooper, who nodded and gave the professor a concluded look before leaving for wherever Goodwitch was.

* * *

"Mr. Shephard." Goodwitch greeted the trooper exactly where Port said she was, at the end of the hallway.

"Ms. Goodwitch." Adrian nodded as he stood by her side. "Here to lead me to your office?"

"Yes, among other things." Goodwitch signalled Adrian to walk with her with a tilted head to the right.

As they walked, Adrian would notice Goodwitch glance at him, varying from poisonous to almost saddened expressions. Adrian ignored them, but the glances become more plentiful and they couldn't be dismissed at this point.

"Something on your mind ma'am?" Adrian asked.

"It's… difficult grasping the magnitude of your situation." She admitted. "I would have you gone by now, but I'm sure I can trust Ozpin with whatever he plans with you, even if I don't agree with it."

"Everyone has their doubts, saying you don't makes you sound awful." Adrian remarked.

"That is true, but again you have my condolences for what you've had to endure in that god-awful facility." Goodwitch said.

"I'll take what I can. And besides, if I couldn't do enough good there, I sure can do it here." Adrian gave her a reassuring smile. Although she couldn't see it, she knew what he meant.

"That's rather unrealistic of you." Goodwtich politely scoffed. "And you did enough at Black Mesa to justify whatever atrocities you did."

"It's called being a god-honest US marine ma'am." He put his hand up, although not too much. "No offense."

"None taken." Both looked to their front, greeted by a door with a small plaque. It spelt _Professor Goodwitch_. "We're here."

Entering her office, it didn't seem too packed at all. Only a desk and a few chairs placed neatly to the sides, the bare essentials to her abode.

"Now to explain why we're here." She remained standing despite having a rather comfortable office chair. "Ozpin has instructed me to unlock your Aura."

"Uh, my PCV does the same thing to some extent, surely I wouldn't need more than that?" He questioned.

"Call it a 'get out of jail free' card if you will." Adrian raised a brow, since when did Remnant ever have Monopoly as one of their board games?

"Now, it's rather simple. I need you to remove your PCV and anything on it." Adrian obliged, removing any obstructions with his shirt only remaining after he had finished. "Good, this will be quick, I assure you."

"I'd make a quick joke, but I don't think it'd be appealing." Goodwitch rolled her eyes and placed her hand on his chest, reciting the words needed to activate Adrian's Aura. To him it sounded like some magic spell.

" **For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee."**

Uttering the last few words, a sudden pain shot through Goodwitch's head as she collapsed from the unfamiliar stab. The pain was immeasurable, preventing her from moving or even speaking as the world slowly dimmed around her.

She saw Adrian coming to her aid and checking on her before running out of her office for help, and a man in a blue suit, smiling with malicious intent as she fell into the unforgiving void.

" _I'm afraid I can't_ _ **let**_ _you lend any advantages unless it has become rule to do_ _ **such**_ _that, Miss Goodwitch…_ _ **No thank you**_ _."_

* * *

* **[UNKNOWN ERROR: LOCATION NOT FOUND]***

Goodwitch groaned as her eyes fluttered and opened, still feeling the effects of her sudden headache. Getting up, she went to look at herself for anything abnormal, and she was terrifyingly correct to do so.

Her hands were no longer hers, instead they were clawed hands, two fingers for each. She recognised what kind they were, and she panted heavily, babbling about how this was happening.

She had Vortigaunt hands, hands of the aliens who had slew **every man and woman** in Black Mesa. To say she was horrified was an understatement.

She would've started hyperventilating if she didn't hear two voices from a distance, cold and monotone. She listened carefully to what they were saying for any hope of salvation.

" _Yep, this was definitely the best career choice I've ever made."_

" _You said it partner, beats the shit out of my last job."_

" _What do you bet we get a pay cut?"_

" _50/50 at least, I mean it's better than nothing."_

" _Hehe, guess so."_

Thinking she could get help and against her better judgement, she raced towards the two who were speaking. It did not relieve her when she saw what they looked like, and how they reacted with the upmost hostility.

They wore white masks that did the job of concealing their faces, with what Goodwitch guessed were built-in vocoders to disguise their voices; which each contained radio and air filters with them. They were wearing vests, looking bullet-resistant in nature, leather boots, black-green uniforms, and an armband on their right arms, with "c04:i6o" emblazoned on it.

" _You! Why are you here, this is a restricted area!"_ One of them exclaimed.

"Please, you must help me!" Goodwitch begged in a raspy, Vortigaunt-like voice.

" _Leave now!"_ The other ordered, grabbing what looked like a stun baton.

"No, please you don't understand!" She tried to reason with the two, but had hopelessly lost as the one with the baton got closer to her.

" _Overwatch, 10-103-M, unclassified labourer, permission to amputate?"_

Goodwitch backed away, but couldn't make distance. The one with the baton twirled his weapon around and gleefully chuckled.

" _Copy that Overwatch. CP-045 and 198 processing malcompliance verdict now."_

At that moment, the armed one punched her in the face and kicked her stomach, sending her to the ground. She coughed heavily and tried to get up, but was kicked in the stomach once more.

The last thing she saw as Goodwitch turned around was a baton being swung down towards her, absolute fear swept through her as she was defenceless to do anything, but didn't feel a thing as she was forced back into the darkness.

* * *

"Dammit Goodwitch wake up!"

Goodwitch jolted hearing Adrian's voice as she opened her eyes and jerked upwards. She sweated bullets as she looked around to see familiar faces. Back but still scared after being brutally beaten, she rubbed her temples and took in as much air as she could.

Adrian turned to Professor Port, who was by her side with Oobleck next to him. "Get Ozpin down here right now and call Peach to get Goodwitch some god damn water."

Port nodded eagerly as Adrian rose and marched out, putting on his equipment and PCV before slamming his head against the wall, muttering about how he had been bringing problems ever since the G-Man had sent him here.

His Scroll vibrated as he went to look what had been sent to him. It was a text from Ruby:

" _I found Weiss! Meet me on the third floor, fifth balcony A.S.A.P!"_

Adrian turned his head back at the display before him, with Goodwitch resting on her office chair and the other two asking what had happened.

"Hey uh, I've got student things to attend to. Give me a sit-rep once I get back?" Both Port and Oobleck nodded, of which Adrian returned as he trampled forward, but not before glancing back to see Goodwitch staring back with a face of genuine fear. He closed his eyes and looked forward.

* * *

 ***A random balcony, Beacon Academy***

The familiar red of Ruby's clothes was propped up against a wall as Adrian got to the fifth balcony. Assuming Weiss was standing outside, Adrian ducked onto the wall Ruby was on, seeing her in a fetal position and a solemn look on her face.

"When did you find her?" He asked.

"About a few minutes after you left, I tried going up to her but I was too scared because she looked really angry so I texted you." She shakenly answered.

"No worries kid, you texted me at a bad time but still, let's go fix your friendship." He sighed and patted her back before leaving Ruby to her own devices as he casually strolled towards Weiss. The girl in question turned and instantly soured up seeing him.

"What do you want?" She angrily questioned, returning her gaze to the sunset.

"Just checking up on a friend." He answered as he looked with her.

"Yeah right." Weiss 'tsked' and didn't say anything after that.

"Weiss, what's the problem?" Adrian asked again.

"Why should I tell you?" She held a mean glace at Adrian.

"Because maaaaaybe you'll feel a lot better instead of being a bit… bitchy." He answered.

Weiss groaned at Adrian's half-checked comment and focused her attention back to the sunset. But his offer was too much to ignore, she really wanted to get her thoughts out, but did Adrian really feel the same she did? It didn't hurt to try.

Weiss sighed. "Fine, what you do want out of me?"

"You seemed more angry than usual. Why?" Adrian crossed his hands, waiting for an answer.

"Because… I think I should be leader of Team RWBY!"

With Weiss' statement, she waited for Adrian to be his comforting self, but what she got was Adrian sniggering before blowing up into laughter soon after. She flinched, annoyed at such childish behaviour and tried to leave to let this fool be, but he held onto her shoulder before she could.

"Wait… phew, okay. Can I explain myself at least?" He pleaded, still trying to take in air after his laughing fit. She crossed her arms and signalled for Adrian to give it his best shot.

First and foremost, what do you think you have over Ruby?" He questioned.

"Uh, the finesse and skill of a fine Huntress! I've been trained and taught by the best. I at a level higher than her in everything!" Weiss answered in her typical tone.

"I can agree with that, except you've got the attitude of a drugged-up hawk." Adrian lightly sneered at her and snickered at his own comparison.

Weiss fumed. "Hey!" Adrian raised a finger, Weiss gave him the chance to speak.

"Weiss, skill is one thing, attitude is a whole other animal. You think anyone would like to follow someone who raves at them constantly and points out flaws with the subtlety of a raging Manticore?" He questioned once more.

This trooper was making a valid argument. Being under the rule of her father wasn't the most pleasant experience, she never liked his attitude nor did she ever get anything other than empty praises. She was too afraid to admit he had rubbed off onto her and all she could see when she looked into the mirror was the end result of her father's reign of torment, his vision of a daughter she longed to not be.

No one should go through the same degrading attitude, she thought to herself.

"Well… no." She reluctantly answered.

"From what I know, Ruby is a compassionate girl who despite still has a lot to learn, makes up for it with the amount of care for a team she's barely getting the ropes of. You on the other hand, are a toxic little princess who can't even get out of her lifestyle, and that snobby attitude isn't doing you any favours either." Adrian continued.

Another valid point. Weiss had to admit looking back, Ruby was supporting her 100%, even with dingy flags to accompany it. She did care for her after all, but her anger clouded her refined thinking, and her 'snobby attitude' didn't help as Adrian said. Ruby had even come back to her to see what was wrong.

Adrian was right, Ruby already won in the attitude contest as soon as Weiss screamed at her.

"I can see it in everything you do. Ruby's probably worked hard to get where she is now. And how about you? Did you work every day to get where you are? Or did you know it was being given to you on a silver platter and you stayed comfortable?" He questioned her once more.

This time, Adrian was dead wrong. She worked so hard to free herself from her father and for him to doubt that infuriated Weiss where she could feel a fire coursing through her.

"No one knows what I've had to go through! I may have been taught, but I made that knowledge my own! I was given it, but I earned it eventually! You know nothing!" She snapped in one long sentence, not even taking a moment to breathe.

"True, but that's exactly the point." Adrian said while she was recovering from her comment.

"What?" She turned to him.

"Ruby, I admit, was given her leadership, she didn't earn it. But I know for damn sure she'll make it her own and earn that title of 'Team Leader' eventually. You can't make perfection, but you can simulate it to thebest of your abilities." He admitted. Weiss didn't say a thing as she let him continue.

"I'll say that I was given leadership too when my sergeant died. I was sloppy, inexperienced, emotional, and I paid for it because of that. But I came from my battle a stronger person, who knows what the hell they're doing now these days. You two are in the same position, you know nothing of leadership yet you think you have what it takes to earn it, so if you're willing to give yourself a shot, why not do the same for Ruby too?"

He was right, if she wanted to be a leader, why couldn't she let Ruby try too?

"You're right. But still, I've always been so high up compared to others and to be in a lower position, I feel… useless." She let a single tear fall from her left eye, but did not cry.

"Then be the best teammate you can. Improve what you know, keep learning and do fix that attitude up. Being a leader can come at another time, but for now, you be a darn good friend to your sisters-in-arms. Can you at least do that?" He asked.

It was a simple request, she let out a simple answer. "I… I can. Thank you."

"Just doing what I can. And one more thing." He turned to the entrance of the balcony. "You can come out now!"

Out of the entrance came none other than Ruby Rose, extremely red having heard what Adrian and Weiss had said about her. Weiss was just surprised to see her here and Adrian chuckled at her expression. _Kids._

"R-Ruby?! How did you find me?!" Weiss asked to her leader.

"Well I more proposed she and I look for you and she agreed with me. She was way too scared to confront you though." He said.

She got what Adrian said, considering her behaviour earlier, she wasn't surprised that Ruby would be reluctant to confront her in such a state.

"Weiss! I just wanted to tell you that-

Ruby was stopped by Weiss. "Quiet you, I wanted to say something first. I must admit, I haven't been treating you fairly, this is all just so unfamiliar to me. I'm sorry for shouting at you, and for not giving you a chance to prove yourself. I only know you would've done the same for me."

"Weiss…" Ruby pulled her into a tight hug and squeezed tightly. "I promise to you I'll be the best leader I can, I'll earn it like Adrian said. You're important to me and Team RWBY and I wouldn't trade you for anyone else…"

It seemed the little rose was squeezing Weiss a little too hard as the ice queen struggled to breathe. "Ruby… air…"

"Oh! Sorry." Ruby let go before yelping in surprise as Weiss returned the hug with the same amount of force Ruby had used earlier.

"WeissI'msorryforhuggingyousohardpleaseletgo." She said in a flurry as Weiss finished her embrace.

"That was for nearly killing me." She stated. "But I promise too that I'll be the best teammate I can, and friend as well."

Both couldn't help but smile. Ruby had made a new friend and Weiss felt freer than ever, to hear her words and her reassurance was refreshing to the mind. They both turned to thank Adrian but saw he was nowhere to be seen. They both shrugged as they went together back to their dorms, Yang and Blake would be worried at this point.

"So, uh Weiss, I've been given some work to do! But it looks really hard."

"Then I'll help you with it, if you want that."

"Oh! Yeah I'd like that!"

* * *

 ***Adrian's Home, Beacon Academy***

Adrian, seeing that his work was done, retreated to his home as Ruby and Weiss were apologizing. While he was walking back, he received a text from Ozpin, reading that Goodwitch had recovered from whatever had happened and Adrian would get to know the full details by tomorrow.

So, as Adrian sat on his couch, a question lingered in his mind.

What now?

Adrian's time in the HECU was relatively simple, get up, train, eat and sleep. If there were any missions, most of which were tests, he would get up, spend the rest of the day completing said mission before cleaning up and sleeping soon after.

This was different, he had many options. Options which muddied his mind, he couldn't think straight, he was getting tired. He checked the time, it was 6:07 pm.

So, he made his way upstairs and to his bedroom, removing his mask and PCV, taking off his boots and when face first into the bed without making himself comfortable.

Hopefully Ozpin would give him something to fight tomorrow.

* * *

 ***[LOCATION: BLACK MESA, TRAM SYSTEM 21-B]***

"I hate this shit so much."

Those were the first words Adrian uttered as he found himself back in Black Mesa once more. Precisely, he was at a tram station, standing at the platform where the scientists would've waited for the trams to arrive.

But there were no scientists, not a single soul, not even some garbage or a lone insect, the station was a complete ghost town. It honestly worried him.

He walked around aimlessly for any information to where he was, the only thing he found of worth was a sign: _Station 21-B_.

It didn't help really. Adrian was still confused and a little scared, he had to admit.

Suddenly he could hear a distinct screech emanating from the tracks, a tram was coming and hopefully with it, some people. But as he saw the tram approach before coming to a stop, he stepped back as he saw what was inside.

Vortigaunts, all sitting on the seats, all staring at him. The seats were taken and one remained. The one sitting next to the vacant spot patted the seat. Adrian knew by the gesture that it was for him.

But Adrian relented, why would he go into a tram full of the aliens that had killed innocent lives? He had no clue of what they intended when they invaded and it made him fear them even more. He slowly stepped backwards, standing a far distance away from the tram before it roared to life and resumed its course.

" _We hear your thoughts… You must realise soon enough…"_

These Vortigaunts wanted something from him, that wasn't too hard to understand, but for what exactly? He felt this wouldn't be the last time he'd come back here as his vision was overcome by a bright light.

 _At least that dream wasn't as bad as the last…_

* * *

 **Holy jeezums I took a while didn't I?**

 **Life's been throwing shit at me, but I have myself to blame too. From playing a lot of TF2 to satiate my re-occuring loneliness to also trying to set up the structure for a Girls' Frontline x Metal Gear Solid crossover I plan to do sometime in the future.**

 **Now, questions that need answers:**

 _ **Artyom-Dreizhen** \- I sent you a PM regarding that, but you still haven't replied yet. Hopefully this chapter's a bit better than the last._

 _ **Guest** \- Well thank you very much! I intend to continue so buckle up._

 _ **Leader** \- Your wish has been granted._

 _ **ThePilotArchangel** \- Good idea, but that's not what I intend for this story. Still, I do like it._

 **Next time on ORS, it's time we get Adrian's house furnished.**

 **Adios!**

 **-MimicLegend**


	8. Housing Troubles

***Adrian's Home, Beacon Academy***

Tweeting.

The tweeting of birds.

How long had it been since he had heard them clearly?

Adrian could see the morning light shine through his bedroom windows as he got himself up from his bed. Glad that the current dream wasn't so bad as the first one, he sighed a heavy sigh and put on whatever he had took off yesterday.

7:06 am, the digital alarm clock on the right side of his bed told him so. Ozpin really did take great lengths to house his visitors well.

Staring to the window, he went over and stared outside for a while longer. Beacon Academy certainly did look beautiful during the early hours. He bet some of the students around here would be doing the same thing, appreciating what was in front of them.

He never had the liberty to do these simple tasks. The only less-than painful memory of said task was the day during his induction into the US Army, smelling the fresh American aroma and watching buildings become replaced by cactuses and dry bushes as the bus took him to a military camp in Albuquerque.

Those days were something amazing to him, like a somewhat distant dream he enjoyed.

Deciding to now focus on the day ahead of him, Adrian walked away from the window and down to the kitchen. Checking the fridge, Adrian saw it was stockpiled with fresh food, rather surprising considering Beacon had bought that amount of food during his first night at the academy.

Eager for something light, he thought cereal would be the best option. Grabbing the milk, he looked through the shelfs and drawers and found some cereal, Pumpkin Pete's to be exact. Taking a more thorough look at the box, he was amused to see Pyrrha on the box art.

"Cool." He shrugged as he found a bowl to pour the cereal into, and then the milk after. Taking a spoon and carrying the bowl with him to the couch, he placed the bowl onto the coffee table and removed his mask before dining into his breakfast.

Each spoonful was like a pint of nirvana, reminding Adrian that he hadn't eaten for two days, a pretty remarkable feat on his part. He mentally said to himself that the flakes were plain, but the marshmallows made up for it. He also wondered how Pyrrha got into the box art in the first place.

About to consume his 27th spoonful, he heard a sharp, refined knocking on his door. Placing his cereal onto the table, he rushed over to the door and opened it, revealing the person behind it to be Ozpin.

"Hello Adrian." He simply greeted.

"Good morning sir." He returned. "You need something?"

"Just a discussion. Mind if I come in?"

"Sure." Adrian let the headmaster walk inside, with him following right behind. Ozpin scanned the room, seeing it had been relatively left fresh, aside from the bowl of cereal and the open box of Pumpkin Pete's.

"I disrupt your breakfast?" The trooper nodded, and Ozpin let out a slight smile. "I see, you can keep indulging if you'd like."

"That'd be rude. But if you let me then sure." Adrian sat back down on the couch and picked up his bowl. Surprisingly, Ozpin sat with him to his left, even relaxing himself as he let his posture droop.

"This is a feeling I haven't in a while. It's almost nostalgic." Ozpin mentioned.

"Well, we all miss the simple things in life don't we sir?" He said as he took in another spoonful of Pumpkin Pete's.

"You don't have to call me 'sir', this is your house. You treat me however you want." Ozpin reminded.

"Sure thing, Oz." Adrian chuckled. "Now you wanted to talk about something?"

"Some elaboration on Glynda's… hallucination." Ozpin said.

"I'm listening." Adrian let his shoulders fail and sunk into the couch, putting his bowl down beforehand to hear what the Headmaster had to say.

"We pried details from her after she calmed herself down, even now she's quite shaken of the incident. From being in a Vortigaunt's body to being beaten by two unknown men, I wouldn't blame her." Ozpin started.

He continued, narrowing down the details as Adrian listened intently. He was surprised to learn that the G-Man was responsible for her state yesterday, with the intention of cancelling another advantage for him. But who in the hallucination had beaten her exactly? And why too? Adrian nodded after hearing the full story.

"So, anything else?"

"Well, Peter did draw a description of Glynda's attackers with her help," Ozpin dug his hand under his coat and took out a piece of neatly folded paper. "I wanted to see if it had any significance to you."

Adrian unfolded the paper and saw an impressive drawing of their description. Looking through every detail, it seemed like some crazy sci-fi armed force. That was until Adrian had his eyes intently stare at the gas-mask the attackers wore.

"Is something wrong?" Ozpin questioned.

"Shit, those look like Soviet PMG gas-masks, just without the big-ass filter on the right." Adrian answered.

"So, this means Glynda somehow, managed to hallucinate Earth… How do you know this?"

"Before Black Mesa made the standard-issue gas-masks for the HECU, the PMG gas-masks were being put into consideration. They were demonstrated and the troops there even got to wear them." Ozpin raised his eyes in surprise to hear that the HECU and Black Mesa had collaborated, more information was good at least.

"So, with the connection to the G-Man and Earth we can consider two things. One, the G-Man forced the hallucination onto her as a scare tactic. And two, Glynda was indeed briefly sent to Earth as a Vortigaunt, which raises the question of what happened after the Black Mesa Incident," Ozpin turned to look at Adrian. "Any theories?"

"Maybe the aliens were enslaved? It'd make sense."

"It would be a shame if they were. No one, not even a trans-dimensional race of creatures should be subject to such tragedies. But if they failed their invasion, why would they go back…?" Ozpin sighed. This was a lot to take in.

Adrian shrugged. "I don't think it's good to make assumptions for now. Once we somehow get more information, perhaps we can land a hit somewhere."

"Perhaps," the Headmaster rose from the couch. "Thank you for the information Adrian, I'll inform the staff about it." Ozpin was halfway through walking to the door when he turned around. "Oh, and as well, I've contributed some Lien to your Lien card. I suggest you buy something to store those… critters of yours."

Adrian nodded as the Headmaster made haste in his departure. Picking the bowl up again, he consumed another spoon of Pumpkin Pete's, a loud crunch echoing through the house as he slowly ate.

* * *

The true day started as Adrian walked to the first class of the day, _Doctor_ Oobleck's class. Adrian had no intention to learn anything, but just to hang back and watch whatever happened. As he walked through the hallways of Beacon Academy, the students continued with their greetings towards him, which he took with a nod as he entered Oobleck's class.

"Ah! Adrian! Care to join us?" Oobleck asked.

"No sir, just here to watch for today." Adrian replied. Oobleck nodded and continued to teach his class while Adrian laid against the wall and watched on.

Catching sight of Ruby and Weiss, he remembered he had left the two hanging due to being so burnt out. He could see Ruby whispering for answers from Weiss and the girl in question annoyingly saying to just copy it down quickly. She did specify what the rosy girl had missed, sparking Adrian's hope for the two.

Adrian continued to scan the class for individuals he knew. Team JNPR were concentrated with writing down what was on the chalkboard apart from Nora who was strangely closer to Ren today. Velvet was in the same mindset but was unaware of the almost silent sniggering of Team CRDL. Adrian mentally noted to keep an eye on the four.

And so Oobleck continued and his class kept writing. Adrian didn't bring Helix's Walkman with him or the iPod he had, so listened to the doctor's babble as the hours ticked by. After he finished explaining a particular part of Remnant's history concerning their first encounter with the Grimm, he turned to all the students.

"Now, any questions you'd like to ask?" Oobleck saw the hands of Weiss, Jaune, Ruby and Nora go up, he went with the order he had seen them.

"Are these ancient kingdoms still standing as of today, any monuments or important areas?"

"I'm afraid not Miss Schnee! But with the excursion to Vale's museum next week, I'm sure you could find whatever items those archaeologists managed to scavenge."

"Uh, I don't have the note for that excursion sir."

"It's _doctor_ , Mr. Arc, you can stay back after class and I'll hand it to you."

"U-Um, I couldn't write most of it down, you uh… wrote way too fast for me…"

"Forgive me Miss Rose, I'll see to it I write at… societal speeds."

"What were we doing again?"

"Perhaps if you weren't sleeping for half the lesson you would know Miss Valkyrie. I'll be checking your work next lesson so consider this a warning." Nora whimpered and sunk into her seat, devastated she had to do work when she could be having fun.

"Now, we only have five minutes remaining and we've covered today's material. As one of the staff of this academy it is most important I know what my students want, so any suggestions?" Oobleck questioned, but no one answered as the class remained in awkward silence.

"Maybe we could question Green-Eyes over there." The leader of Team CRDL, Cardin Winchester quipped as his team looked over to Adrian, still laying against the wall and playing with his Tactical Radio before he looked up at the mention of his name.

" _Be my guest_." Adrian sarcastically said, dreading what kind of questions they would ask.

"Excellent! Come on up Mr. Shephard!" Oobleck welcomed Adrian to his desk, sitting down and sighing loudly. "Here's the groundwork, you have any questions I don't want to answer, I won't. Ask anything stupid and I'll ignore you. Ask something with some agreeable intent and I'll be happy to answer." Adrian elaborated to the class.

Blake was the first to ask. "What's your opinion on the Faunus?"

"Just ask Velvet that, I explained it to her and if I did now I'd get some disagreement from _some_ people." Adrian glared at Team CRDL as he said that, them looking like they wanted to beat his face in.

"How's your family?" Yang went second. Her family wasn't always the happiest, especially since her birth mother left when she was fresh out the womb, maybe Adrian shared the same thing, it was a curious thought she wanted answers to,

Adrian took his time to answer that question. His relationship had always been… strained when it came to family. He was a happy kid some many years ago, then he got too curious and that outlook on life shattered in front of him.

" _Margret, things have been getting stressful lately. The bills have been piling up like fucking crazy."_

" _I blame Adrian entirely! The first time we did it we were completely careful, now I regret even doing you in the first place!"_

" _I… agree Margy. Still, the kid could hear us. You know what happens when they have low opinions on you."_

" _I don't give a shit Toby, I was having_ _ **so**_ _, much fun when we were dating. Now that we've got the kid… I hate it so much…"_

It took some time for him to fully understand as his mind was still growing. But his parent's musings eventually got more redder and redder until even both weren't afraid to admit those things to him straight in front of him. School payments didn't help either.

He understood why they felt that. People only lived once, and his parents wanted to experience that fully, feeling guilty even for restricting that after coming into the world. But the same saying applied to him too, and he just wanted to deck both their faces for how badly they had treated him as he grew.

"Adrian!" Yang shouted. "You gonna answer or what?"

Adrian jerked upwards, still deep in thought when Yang got his attention. The answer would be easy to convey though.

"No."

Yang had a confused look on her face, before it went solemn as she sank down into the seat she was on. Adrian kept a stern expression on his own despite the painful memories and Yang realised one thing; whatever it was, it was much worse than her mommy problems.

Everyone else noticed the tense atmosphere and decided not to push him too far.

"You may have been trained in Atlas, but were you born elsewhere?" Weiss questioned as the third. Pyrrha's expression and overall posture showed she was interested in the answer Adrian would give as well.

"Vacuo, I was born in Vacuo. Parents worked hard and sent me off to Atlas for training." All a lie, rather he was born in New Orleans, his parents never worked to get him anywhere and it was a veteran looking for a drink that led to his military career, even if his parents never knew that.

Weiss and Pyrrha on the other hand, had the exact same thoughts, although it was more Remnant-exclusive. Vacuo was a kingdom that generally accepted anyone if they could survive its conditions, so it made sense considering his rough nature and innate survival instinct as well as his trained mind.

"Why isn't there any information concerning the HECU?" Velvet was the next to ask, it would be good for her and her team to know why they couldn't find anything two days back.

Another question Adrian knew would be asked. "Well I explained what we did, which was general combat in unfamiliar environments considered too dangerous for the Atlas Army. The HECU and Black Operations had a… disagreement. Higher-ups shut us down before it could escalate."

If by disagreement by his terms meant one side firing at the other despite years of collaboration, then it'd make some modicum of sense.

"What do you mean by 'disagreement'?" She repeated.

"Fine, I'll humour you. Two high-ranking officers from both sects got into an argument, next thing you know they've both got bullet holes in their heads and I'm pretty sure they didn't decide on joint suicide." Adrian pointed at the bunny girl. "Happy now?"

Weiss quickly raised her hand once more. "Were they both Atlesians?"

"Uh, don't know about that one."

Velvet worryingly nodded, shivering as she knew the grisly details of both the HECU and Black Operations. Weiss looked on in disgust, she couldn't fault Adrian as much as she did previously, not after what he did. However, if they were Atlesians, she couldn't think of men solving their problems in such primal manners, especially those from Atlas. Made her almost glad both were shut down.

"Why are some of your weapons really boring?" Ruby said, the same girl who wielded a high-impact sniper scythe, something incredibly bizarre if the sizes of both her weapon and body were taken into account.

"I don't need some willy-nilly weapon that can switch from one thing to another. If it works and shoots then I'm fine with that. It's basically like comparing barbeque and tomato sauce when both are still good condiments regardless."

 _Although a Desert Eagle that could turn into my wrench could be handy…_

 _Shut up._

Adrian could see the class had no more questions left. "Duty calls, for something you lot don't need to know. Mundane stuff anyway." He said, rising from his chair and walking to the open doors that led to the hallways.

* * *

Adrian was now wandering aimlessly through Beacon Academy, but not before making a detour back home to grab his iPod so he could listen to **his** music, not Helix's. He made sure to hide it so no one would be asking questions, something he didn't need.

He had many artists that fit the bill of "walk aimlessly in a beautiful world", and he played through all their tracks. He was sometimes so distracted that when students passed by and waved, he wouldn't notice and continued walking past, too enthralled in his own musical world to notice.

Sometimes he would start spontaneously dancing, students and staff looked on with confused looks and Adrian decided to do it when he was alone next time.

Now Adrian was at the Main Avenue, laying back on the statue as he watched the clouds roll by and students come back from where-ever they had gone. Playing some air drums, he watched inconsistently for any new activity, his body getting more and more hyperactive as it demanded combat.

He seriously needed a mission, Adrian would eventually just start walking for the sake of walking due to a lack of combat. It made him fidgety just thinking about it, just wanting to fire a gun.

He could ask Ozpin to go to the Emerald Forest and hunt down some Grimm, but he would most likely refuse as it would be bad for his reputation to see a newly-appointed huntsman die or get injured during such and that Adrian himself was much too important after he had revealed his backstory.

Maybe this academy had some firing range or that sort of thing, the students carried highly dangerous weapons with them after all…

 _Wait a minute._

The trooper got up and eagerly looked for any teams returning from the Bullhead docks and saw a team with some rather exotic and revealing clothing, which also went for the three males in the team as well. They held rather bizarre weapons that Adrian didn't care much of.

Walking up to them, the female in the team stared in awe of who was coming up to them and rushed over to him before he even made it to them at all. She zipped around checking through all his clothing before finally facing him.

"So you **are** the 'Atlas Trooper' everyone's been talking about!" She bubbly said, accompanied with a very positive-looking smile.

"And you are…?" Adrian asked.

"Dahlia Copperstone!" She answered with that bubbly tone of hers.

"Alright, can I- "

"We heard you took on a Death Stalker solo and **won**! Is that true?"

"Yeah, I did, _woo-hoo_. Now I just- "

"Has anyone told you that mask looks **awesome**!"

"No, I don't care. Will you- "

"Can I have your autograph?"

"Sure, if you let me- "

"Can you give me specifics, I can give you specifics, it would seriously be helpful if you did!"

And so, Adrian used his own bare hands to clamp onto Dahlia's face, before shaking her violently and with as much force as possible.

"Look kid, could you just the god damn question I'm about to ask because if you seriously don't," He made sure she could see his eyes behind the green-tinted shades of the mask as he whispered; " _I am going to go fucking insane!"_

"Uh um buh guuuuh…" She could only stutter looking at his deadpan eyes. Her team only decided to intervene after seeing Adrian aggressively shake one of their teammates.

"Hey, lay it off her, will you?! **"** One of the them said. He had unusually glossy and spiky hair, had piercings on his ears and wore some combat apparel all except for a crop top.

Adrian regained his senses and held his head, he had seriously let himself go at that point and was quite embarrassed he was close to scaring a kid. At the same time however, she was being a tad annoying constantly annoying him.

"Erm," Adrian started, "Sorry about that. I'm just a bit… radical, and I just wanted to ask something." It was embarrassing for a person his age to lose his mind in front of group of teens.

The three boys were about to go comfort their female teammate when she slowly spun forward and stared him in the eyes, she seemed like a lost puppy with those bright, ruby eyes. She had realised what Adrian had wanted and frankly, she seemed distressed about it.

"Oh…" She squeaked in her sudden revelation. "I didn't realise. I really should stop asking questions. I get too excited and…" She could speak no further as she sunk into her world of personal gloom. Adrian should've felt for her, but it was all so sudden that it took a while to process.

"Oh great." One of her teammates in seriously decked-out combat gear contrasted with his atrociously large afro. "Dangan Everbloom, I'll answer your question."

Adrian only replied with "Shooting range?"

"Ah, that's near the armoury, just head right when ya see the entrance." He went with his team to go comfort Dahlia. "And just, don't come talkin' to us like that, 'kay?"

Adrian gave a lazy thumbs-up as he watched the team leave. Muttering to himself about how he acted like a complete lunatic, hopefully some pot-shots with his Desert Eagle could quell his fighting side.

* * *

"Mhm, so you can't do that today?"

"No Adrian, I'm afraid not. It would take three days for the tank displays to arrive. I suggest you make haste."

"Affirmative, I'll let you know once I've made the decision."

"I trust that you will."

Adrian ended his conversation with Ozpin, who had let him know that the tanks for the specimens like his Snarks, the Spore Launcher and the Spore Fruit it fed on would come in a few days, accounting for the purchase, the delivery and the moving into Adrian's home. The display for the Spore Launcher and Spore Fruits were the biggest problem though, as the space they needed would need custom-built tanks, which could take time to be put together.

So, this was his plan. Get the Desert Eagle, go to the shooting range, fire a few shots. If he wasn't satisfied, get his M16 and fire some more, fire a grenade if he so wished to, then either go to Vale and buy the tank for the Snarks or rest for the day and tirelessly keep waiting for a mission to come to him.

So far, he had concealed the Desert Eagle in a pocket in his PCV and was now making his way to the shooting range. Now that he was a lot calmer knowing there was one, he asked for directions to the foundry, of which he got. So far, the plan was going with no setbacks to speak of.

And a set-back appeared right as he thought of that, it was almost comedic.

Adrian heard his name being called, and turned to see both Coco and Velvet, with the bunny girl being dragged against her will by her partner's excessive strength. The fashionista had a big, dumb smile on her face while Velvet looked like she had been through an intense office day and hadn't even taken a nap. To say she looked dead was an understatement.

"What's up with you trooper!" She exclaimed in her usual tone.

"What's up with your Velvet?" He sarcastically shot back.

"Huh, well I just wanted to go into Vale, and Velvet wanted to come too!" She showed off Velvet, who was dying for sleep. Reaching out a hand for Adrian, she couldn't hold it up and let it fall as she continued feeling like utter crap.

"Sure… I'm just going to go to the shooting range if you don't mind me." Adrian boringly stated, ready to just walk away.

"Well, I'll see… wait. Are you wearing the same clothes as yesterday?" Coco questioned.

"No, I just have clothes that work, and are just the same, so yeah, that answers the question."

"Oh, I mean I could spend some Lien for you to buy some… reasonable clothes."

"Please don't."

"Come on Adrikins, it'll be fun!"

"Don't call me that, ever."

"Pleaaaaaase?"

"No. I'm going to say this now. Go away, and for crying out loud don't drag Velvet into your problems."

Coco decided to get uncomfortably close to Adrian and stared him dead in the eyes, she tilted her glasses down and gave a cold, angry glare at the trooper, Adrian could only do the same with his own dead, dastardly stare, both getting nearer to one another as the silence continued.

"So, that's how you feel then…"

"Of course, Coco, just leave me be…"

The girl just smiled, another big, dumb smile. And then a sudden hit in the gut that Adrian had no clue would happen nor had enough time to react to. Clutching his stomach due to her surprisingly strong punch, Coco tripped the trooper who landed harshly on the floor, before being grabbed by the back of his shirt collar and dragged by her.

Velvet looked at the unfortunate man, still in her dead mood. She groaned out two words that made Adrian fear for the worst.

"You're doomed."

With those two words Adrian struggled to escape Coco's iron grip, but it was useless and she refused to let go. Adrian wasn't one to give up though, and thrashed around even when the three had gotten into the Bullhead en-route to Vale. Whatever happens, he hoped it wasn't too bad.

* * *

 ***[LOCATION: Vale, Remnant]***

After two hours of being dragged alongside Velvet by their captor Coco, she reached the destination they were meant to be in. A fashion store, all glossy and shiny like any other high-end store.

 _Oh god, of course it's a fashion store, why would it not be?_

"Alright you two! Let's go!" Coco dropped the two and strutted her way into the store. The receptionist looked at who had entered and then raised her brows like she recognized her, and she did indeed. They both greeted each other with genuine smiles.

"Ms. Adel, glad to see you back." The receptionist started.

"Same here Dilly, how have you been?" Coco replied.

The two started to converse with one another as Adrian and Velvet entered through the glass doors. He noticed that she had bags under her eyes, and somehow, they were prominent now. Remnant was weird for sure.

"So, what now?" He asked.

"I usually try umm, to run, yeah… but uh, you know, she catches up and drags me back. So, no-go with that, no hope either." She answered as she calmly laid herself on the floor. She was acting different than her usual self.

"So? I don't think what she'll do is that bad. What is it anyway?" He asked again.

"Clothes, she keeps dragging me uh, into wearing different ones. I enjoyed it at first, yeah, but then I stopped liking it. She didn't care how much I said no. Her love for fashion really just over-takes her." Velvet bluntly answered.

"Ah, well then." Adrian sighed and waited for Coco to finish. "You should talk to her about that."

"Maybe." She simply stated right as Coco waved the both to come over. Adrian picked up Velvet and they both went over to the fashionista. He looked at the receptionist's name tag, seeing the name **"Dilly Carnation"** etched onto it, what was with the flower names anyway?

"More people to _enjoy_ your recreational activities?" She sarcastically quipped.

Coco didn't see the obvious sarcasm in Dilly's comment. "Of course, got Velvet here and the 'Atlas Trooper' I've been talking about!"

Dilly had quite the neutral face as she shook hands with Adrian, waiting for Coco to get concerned with Velvet before speaking. "Did she drag you into this as well?"

"What do you think?" He rhetorically asked.

"Mmm, I see. Well, she won't treat you too badly, but Velvet looks worse than usual."

"Have you talked to Coco about it?"

"Not at all. I did before but I gave up after the 69th time she ignored me."

"Oh, damn." Adrian whispered as he saw the two girls walk towards them. "She's still a good girl, what a shame."

"Adrian, come with me! I think I found some stuff that could suit you!" Coco triumphantly shouted, holding up several clothes held up by their hangers.

"You don't have to shout, Coco." He grumbled as he followed the two to whatever Coco was doing.

Simply put, Coco just wanted him to try on some clothes she thought would suit him. It was nothing too harsh, Dilly was right about Coco treating her well. Having to change several times due to her insistence that the next would be better annoyed him however, especially when she decided to point out his gas-mask.

"Do you always wear that mask?" Coco asked, circling Adrian to get a better look at the clothes.

"It'd be best if people didn't see my face." He replied wearing the peculiar set of clothing.

"Why's that? Scared?" She teased him, lightly pushing him forwards.

"So I can do things easier. Hard to do some things when people recognize you."

"Like what?"

No comment from the trooper. He took a glance at Velvet who looked somewhat interested in what Adrian was saying, but ignored it for the most part, spending her valuable time looking at the floor.

More clothes, more of Coco's insistence and more changing later, Adrian stepped out of the changing room for the two to have a good look. Coco eagerly nodded her head at what she saw while Velvet looked wide awake seeing what he was wearing.

First off, Adrian had his gas-mask off this time, instead wearing aviators to cover his eyes, was wearing a leather jacket over a mostly black long-sleeve shirt, a rather nice looking belt that kept his grey slim-fit pants tight and some combat boots to top it all off.

"So?" He laid back onto the changing room's door and waited for a reply.

Coco gave one of her dumb grins as well as a thumbs-up, while Velvet nodded but paid no mind.

"Alright cool, can I get out of this now?" Adrian begged.

"Sure," Coco looked to her partner and helped her stand up. "Alright Velvet, your turn!"

Her response was to fall face first onto the ground and sleep. When Coco went to help her she saw that the bunny girl had fallen into a deep slumber, even snoring and drooling. Picking her up by the arm and carrying her, she went over to Dilly while Adrian could only watch whatever in God's name just happened.

 **[A few minutes later…]**

"Coco…"

"I know what you're going to say Adrian."

Adrian had gone out of his way to carry Velvet out of the store when she had collapsed. Coco tried to look as innocent as possible going out, earning narrowed eyes from both Adrian and Dilly, who really did shake their heads as the three went out.

Velvet was now on piggyback and sleeping peacefully. Now in an alley to talk with Coco, Adrian's back ached from Velvet's weight, but he gritted his teeth and did what had to. Now he was looking at the fashionista who was whistling and twiddling her fingers to not associate herself with the two.

"Coco…"

"Not my fault."

Adrian sighed, she was in denial and he had to get her out of it.

"Coco, tell me why you drag Velvet into this?" He firstly asked.

"I already told you!" She complained.

"Then tell me the truth."

"What? Adrian, it was the truth!"

"Tell me or I'll not only carry Velvet back to Beacon, but I'll ask Ozpin to dismantle Team CFVY due to abuse of leadership." Adrian finally stated.

The girl flared in anger and stepped a few paces back. "You can't do that!" Coco assumed a fighting stance, fists up and ready to stop Adrian from breaking their team apart.

"I will, somehow." He stated, bored but also gradually getting aware of Coco's hostility as he put Velvet down and rested her onto the opposite wall. "You want to stop me? Go ahead."

Coco took a step forward and glared at him like a cougar, Adrian barely flinched and stood his ground. She took another and tightened her fists, the trooper was unfazed. Then Coco started running and pulled her fist back to punch Adrian square in the face.

He dug his feet into the ground in preparation for her punch. He knew it wouldn't hurt as much as his PCV would take most of the blunt force, but at the same time she had Aura and his punches would be much less effective, meaning sheer force wasn't going to work. If he was to retaliate, he would have to subdue her.

So, he was pleasantly surprised to see Coco completely miss her punch and slam the wall behind him, scaring Adrian as he thought he heard the wall crack. Both could hear Velvet suddenly go wide awake from hearing Coco's punch.

"I'm not a dumbass." Coco growled as she let her fist untighten, with Adrian seeing that she had heavily bruised her punching hand. "I know how to pick my fights."

"Then are you ready to talk then?" Adrian asked. "The complete truth this time?"

"Yeah," Coco massaged her punching hand. "Right, time to tell you."

They both went to face one another, eyes locked.

Coco started. "Let me be real with you here, if there's something I hate, it's being alone. Ever since I was a kid, everyone at my national academy always tried to avoid me, I loved fashion, maybe too much. I'd shoehorn it in any conversation I could be a part of, either they left me to myself or kept quiet until I left…"

"Then rumours started going about. Rumours that were completely bullshit, let me tell you that. Eventually I started getting bullied and I didn't even know why I was in the first place. I was always lonely, glum most of the time too. My parents were nice folk but they always pushed for me to make a few friends. It annoyed them at first, then it angered them…"

"I learned what was best for me after that. Keep quiet and shut up about what I like. Those rumours went and were gone, but I was still always so alone because all that negative stuff still stuck with me. I never made friends until I got to Beacon, where my team became my family, kind of…"

"I've always been so bombastic and cheerful and all that happy slapstick crap because it made me forget my younger years. I obviously loathe it and wish it never happened, but I can't change that. Being alone is one of these things that make me remember, so I drag others with me not only because their dress sense is awful, but so I don't think of the people staring at me as I walk past them…"

Coco sighed and crossed her arms. "Happy now?"

"Slightly." Adrian answered. "I can understand though."

"Is that all?" She asked.

"It's not my problem and I rather it shouldn't be. Instead, tell your team the exact same thing you said to me," Adrian took a quick glance at Velvet, who was now fully awake and wide-eyed hearing what Coco had said. "Because I can see you've been keeping this hidden."

"You can't blame me for that." Coco shot back.

"I don't have a reason to, at least one I can't think of yet." Adrian shifted himself out of the alley and looked back to the girl. "Come on, you had your fun, now I need something myself."

Coco nodded and let Adrian go first, while getting Velvet up from the ground, still wide-eyed. Coco would've liked to say sorry, but she didn't want to lose Adrian in the crowd right now.

Meanwhile, some suspicious folk set their eyes on the soldier, unarmed and unaware. They whispered among themselves before tailing the odd-looking trooper, not dressed in the usual Atlas attire. The hustle continued, the pace was normal, but many wouldn't know of what was to come.

* * *

Adrian steadily made his way to a shop where display tanks were being sold, or he should've been if Ozpin had given him directions, the earlier call he had stated to look for "Noir's Great Display" and had walked for 28 minutes, of which he had decided to time out of sheer boredom.

Adrian was taking point, confidently making his pace as he knew he'd find it soon enough. The two girls we're strangely disconnected from one another, each refusing to make eye contact or even accidently bump into the other. He knew Coco's reason, but Velvet's more so bewildered him.

Time passed by, the minutes were recorded, and the three's silence continued. For a world, full of teens with complex weapons and dark creatures of evil, it was in all honesty, boring when you weren't fighting, although perhaps that's what Adrian thought himself.

Luck would be on his side though, as the shop would eventually present itself, courtesy of a few answered questions. The store wasn't very ornate like Dilly's, but more simplistic and to the point. This was a store, look around, buy something or not, get out.

And for its title of 'greatest' it really didn't look that great.

Entering the store, it was as organized as any other store but with a lot less flair than the previous. It was just a darn normal store, what was there for Adrian to say?

"You must be Adrian. Professor Ozpin told me beforehand you were coming." The receptionist greeted, no doubt this was Noir.

"Then you know what I'm here for?" Adrian asked.

"Of course, excuse me while I get what you need." Noir replied as he made his way into the storeroom.

Adrian ushered the two girls to come forth and gave them the simple instruction to safeguard the displays while he decided to head to the bathroom.

Meanwhile a group of about three people entered the store. They look relatively average and were just passer-byers. The only distinct feature was that they were Faunus, one had a reptilian tail, another has fox ears and the last had the horns of a ram. They greeted Velvet and Coco nicely, which they returned their good will.

A simple request for them to use the bathroom too, which Noir accepted once he had returned had them confidently pace into the men's bathroom, seeing the trooper they had targeted washing his hands.

"Oh, hey." Adrian saw the three Faunus and prepared to dry his hands when they suddenly reached into their various pockets and drew switchblades, each of them clearly sharpened to kill.

"Bet the Lieutenant will be happy to know we've rid of one more Atlesian from Remnant, right boys?" The one with the fox ears chuckled, clearly the leader of this posse, the other two smiled deviously alongside him.

"Lieutenant hey? How about I beat you three before you do that?" Adrian asked. He wished they'd have answered at least as they rushed him intent on causing a gory mess.

His instinct kicked in, the space they were in were cramped, providing him an advantage somewhat, and something to work off on. The reptilian Faunus struck first with an attempt to impale him in the gut, which Adrian reacted with a swift dodge and an even swifter slug to the face.

More things to note, these lot weren't good with blades, aimlessly trying to stab him which he moved out of the way before retaliating. Military training always beat street brawling,

And the practice of sometimes punching a Houndeye in it's well, _eyes_.

The ram Faunus decided it was big-brain hour and tried to break Adrian's ribs with his horns. That only earned him a painful collision with the bathroom walls and a downwards shoulder to the head, putting him out of the fight, even if Adrian narrowly dodged it.

The reptilian Faunus, clearly frightened but still eager to win, swiped at him. Adrian ducked under him and delivered a righteous uppercut to the hooligan and a swing to his face, putting down the second Faunus.

The fox Faunus, tired of Adrian's apparent expertise decided to try a rather effective technique, you could say it was passed down to him.

He ran, ran with all his might. Didn't get him anywhere though as Adrian tripped him by grabbing his leg and dragged him across the floor before quickly disarming him and choking him until unconsciousness came.

"Too easy." Adrian harrumphed, his friends back at Santego gave him a harder time.

 _Now, about your Lieutenant…_

Adrian quickly dug through their pockets to find something at least. He suspected the leader to have something of worth, but only found his phone, still useful. He turned it on to see if any messages had been sent and saw something from their Lieutenant:

" _Tracked a large supply of Dust via trucks heading towards the docks. Be here ASAP tomorrow to intercept or I'll drag you by the collar of your shirts."_

Good. Adrian took the phone off him as evidence for Ozpin, and hopefully an excuse to finally fight.

He checked the ram Faunus' pockets, nothing. Too bad.

The reptilian Faunus however, had a note, well more of a folded pamphlet tucked in one of his jacket's pockets. He unfolded it to see a simple reminder:

 **To All Faunus  
** **Saturday 23** **rd**

 **Come to Warehouse 12 located at the Docks for White Fang recruitment  
**

 **We hope to see our fellow brothers and sisters there.**

A Dust robbery to stop **and** a mass recruitment to crash? Quite the find indeed.

He pocketed the note and finally dried his hands before Coco decided to peek inside, impatient with Adrian's time needed to simply do his business and leave.

"Adrian, what's taking so lo- HOLY SHIT!"

* * *

 ***Adrian's Home, Beacon Academy***

If Adrian ever considered a day to be a good one, this'd be one out of many.

The displays were finally carried back home, courtesy of Velvet and Coco's help in getting them to his abode and Port and Peach coming to help with storing the creatures. A Snark escaped and attempted to swallow Port's fine moustache but nothing too bad other than that.

Velvet and Coco were still silent during the subsequent VPD visit to the store and the return to Vale, although he knew they'd be back to their normal selves by tomorrow.

The evidence had been delivered, Ozpin acknowledge his feats and promised he'd let Adrian know what would transpire for their side by tomorrow. Hopefully that meant Adrian could be a participant in such.

Adrian slept aptly that night, the tweeting the birds replaced with the shrill noises of crickets as another day passed in this strange, magical world.

* * *

 **I'M NOT DEAD!**

 **Never will be anyway, sorry for the fic's slight delay which will be explained later, but firstly. I've decided to make these ending messages more of my personal thoughts while typing this and not just some throwaway thing to mention.**

 **Firstly, I feel I had shoe-horned a lot of things to get the chapter chugging along, including Coco's reason of dragging Velvet to her antics in the first place. Originally, I had Coco and Adrian in a fully-fledged fight rather than what's currently there. I got rid of it because 1. Coco isn't that dumb and 2. There's no need for that type of filler with the reason previously stated.**

 **Secondly, filler. I will say that the chapters that cover Volume 1 and 2 of RWBY will be sort of filler-heavy, at least from my perspective. I don't plan to re-tread on events from the show and do somewhat original ones. I'm not a good writer, which shouldn't be an excuse you bore you all with fluff. Hopefully the later chapters I can think of something interesting to add.**

 **And the delay. A lot of things have happened alongside my constant procrastination. You, the reader probably came for a kick-ass story and not to pity me so I'll summarise it:**

 **Got into some depressing stuff with my friends on Discord.**

 **Bought some games to handle someone important leaving me.**

 **Procrastination.**

 **Wanting to spend my short break doing things (like gaming).**

 **The family life is kind of awful.**

 **And with that out of the way, time to read the reviews:**

 _ **Bill Cipher3 –**_ _Thanks? I don't really consider myself that good of an author. Reading a lot of fanfics (preferably good ones) they're leagues better than me overall.  
_ _ **  
Guest –**_ _Psionics_ _ **do**_ _exist, both in scrapped material for Half-Life (with both the Kingpin and CIA Brainboy) and Half-Life 2, since Combine Advisors do use psionics._

 _ **Leader –**_ _I just thought it'd be cool to do, I had no intention to take something from that god-awful game, but thank you I suppose._

 _ **pizzama2003 –**_ _Is that so? Then thank you then. Honestly, I try and replicate the G-Man's stutters and pauses and creepy tone through complicated words and it looks like it turned out. He'll become more important as this fanfic goes on._

 **Before I go, I'll leave you, the reader with a short excerpt of my next planned fanfic after this one covers the entirety of Vol. 3 (and I take a break from RWBY). If you know the characters then congratulations**

* * *

" _Piss on a rock, those bastards don't know when to give up..."_

 _Foster and Kirumi split from the rest of the group to find the ammo caches The Patriarch so conveniently spread across the Killing Floor, he never really made it easy for them, mostly for his own amusement._

 _Encountering a pack of idle Quarter-Pounders, both had to high tail it out of there when they started roaring and sprinting at them. Foster was pretty sure he sprained his ankle while running for his life and Kirumi hadn't run this fast since her botched execution._

 _So now they had shut themselves off in a storage room, the blast doors provided decent protection from the ramming of steel and collision of flesh (courtesy of the Quarter-Pounders speeding their own heads into the iron). There were no connections to other rooms though, and the two had basically cornered themselves._

 _Foster heaved as he sat himself down onto the floor. "Bloody hell that smarts..." His sprained ankle was more of an annoyance than an issue but still, it hurt._

 _Kirumi paced over to him and knelt, while also taking out her medical kit. "Do you require assistance?"_

 _Foster tightly held her arm before she could even start. "Nah, just a sprain. Not like I'm screaming that I lost my leg kid." He said as Kirumi nodded and stood, looking at the currently pounded door._

" _Mr. Foster, I fear that door won't hold for much longer. We need a plan." Kirumi squeaked as she saw holes burst forth from the metal separating them from the Specimens._

" _Alright, here's Mr. Foster's 100% Zed-Proof Plan!" He pointed at the maid. "You, go find us a way out of here," then pointed to himself. "Me? Just gonna lay back and wait, count my money stacks too. Chop chop! Throw me a bone once you find somethin'."_

 _Kirumi simply nodded once more before commencing the orders given to her. Foster, with the power of Horizine technology kindly gifted by The Patriarch's former (and now dead) employees, digitally reconstructed $4,000 worth of stacks to either marvel at or throw around._

 _It wasn't really money, but it was money nonetheless._

 _Foster was mentally singing his own, handwritten song consisting of counting how much money he had and how rich he was before feeling the light hit of a soda can on his forehead._

" _That was a joke kid." Foster reminded her._

 _This time another can hit his head._

" _ **Joke**_ _, Kirumi."_

 _Another can._

 _Foster grumbled and looked up to give her a piece of his mind to see her pointing to a vent above, rather large. Her other arm was cradling about three more soda cans._

" _I couldn't find any bones so cans had to suffice. I've found our way out fortunately."_

 _Foster in his lifetime knowing the blank slate that was Kirumi Tojo would never know if she took everything seriously or had some sort of comedic nature inside her._

 _He sighed to himself and stood up, the stacks of money zipping their way towards him to disappear. Limping towards the vent above, he took one look before clapping once._

" _Plan #2, I'm serious this time," Foster turned to the maid. "Vent looks big enough for you, but not me. You crawl through and find me some bloody help, preferably not D.A.R. because he might kick my ass once he sees me."_

 _So, of the remainder of their time was spent pushing boxes and barrels to make a staircase, all while the constant pounding on the door rung on. Once they had done so, Kirumi was about to make her way up when Foster held her on the shoulder._

" _Before you go kid," He looked at the blast doors, then back at her. "Stay safe."_

" _I will. Farewell for now." Foster let her go as he watched her make her way up and slide into the vent. He sat down again and conjured a stack of bills, idly slapping them on his free hand as the roaring and pounding continued._


	9. Dead Ends

***CCT Tower, Beacon Academy***

Adrian twiddled with his thumbs at the elevator to Ozpin's office started itself up.

How did he get here? The usual process of wake up, push-ups, brush your teeth and eat breakfast with the added, and especially favoured 'Get a message from Ozpin' as a nice dessert to the daily meal.

Yesterday had gotten him into a mess concerning some White Fang goons, what wasn't a complete mess was getting information about a Dust hijacking and a top-secret recruitment session, which Adrian was happy enough to crash both just to shoot things up and punch a few of those willing to commit acts of terror.

For a non-existent America of Remnant, he told himself.

He would need to plan things out, he couldn't carry all his weapons. His mind would linger on those thoughts later as the doors opened to Ozpin's office, the man in question taking a delighted sip from his mug. He seemed happier than usual.

"Sir." Adrian greeted with a salute.

"Please, you are one of my comrades, not my underling." Ozpin stated, dissatisfied that Adrian still treated him much like a commanding officer. He wasn't Ironwood.

"It's impulse. Can't squish out the American pride." Adrian also stated. "You seem happier than usual Ozpin."

"The shipment of Mistralian coffee finally arrived today." Ozpin said as he smiled. "Taxing for the school budget, but a man must have his own guilty pleasures."

"Coffee huh? Always preferred a nice, cold soda." Adrian commented on as he sat on the seat facing Ozpin.

"Perhaps you should try some. As one of my trusted allies I wish for no qualms between any of us." Ozpin spoke as he put and mug down and clasped his hands together.

"Another time when I'm not feeling so twitchy." Adrian responded.

"Of course. Now onto business." Ozpin took out the Scroll that contained the information concerning the Dust hijacking.

"This particular Scroll I had a friend from Atlas crack into. It pertains exactly to hijacking Dust supply trucks in broad daylight none-the-less and robbing all the Dust before the authorities arrive. Foolproof enough is it not?"

"Perhaps, but broad daylight too? These terrorists are extremely ballsy compared to Earth's." Adrian informed.

"And what are Earth's terrorists like?" Ozpin asked.

"From what I saw, they only fight in their own territories, otherwise they use scare tactics like suicide bombings and mass shootings to spread fear and their own agenda." Adrian answered.

"Well Remnant's White Fang are certainly the same, although they tend to forgo any suicidal tactics in favour of brute force and numbers." Ozpin said.

"The more the merrier." Adrian remarked.

"Whatever you say. Now I presume you would want to participate?"

"Isn't that the reason why you brought me up here Oz?"

"Among other things, but mostly yes." Ozpin affirmed. "Although the way I would like this to go out will certainly be… controversial."

"And why is that…?" Adrian adjusted his seat and tipped his head to the right.

"This isn't a movie where the series of events are twisted to the protagonist's benefit. The White Fang know the three men you apprehended are in prison and have had important information taken away from them. They are sure to switch their plan to another more efficient one."

"One digit to the headmaster." Adrian muttered. "But get to the point."

"What I mean to say is… we let the events play out." Ozpin finally confirmed.

"So, you're saying…"

"Yes, I plan to let them steal the Dust. I've already convinced the Vale Council to spread their police force near roads leading outside Vale and the reports will be quick."

Ozpin continued; "The White Fang will assume that they'll be able to commit the crime freely, alas, the passengers will be disguised cargo drivers whom will let us know what transpired."

"This sound too perfect Oz." Adrian admitted.

"I've come up with a contingency plan if the disguised drivers find themselves injured or deceased. The Vale Council again, has set up barriers on the roads leading out of Vale. They have no choice but to retreat to the warehouses and wait for reinforcements. That is where you and Glynda will come in."

"As clean-up then? I see." The marine mused to himself as he thought more about Ozpin's plan.

"You and Glynda will clear out and arrest any White Fang still alive after the VPD has arrived. I've authorised lethal force so feel free to use such titles to your advantage."

"Finally. I get to test out a few things then."

"Don't be too harsh Adrian, the Faunus will surely react negatively to this once word gets out." Ozpin chided.

"Understood, anything else?" Adrian asked.

"Other than you prepare yourself for the task ahead."

Adrian simply nodded and got up from his chair before leaving for the elevator. His mind was on overdrive. Finally! He wasn't just meandering about on Beacon's ground or loitering on Vale, but doing something for once, something obviously beneficial!

As he pushed the buttons to descend, he wondered what his arsenal should be. His trusty M4 would work always and its grenade launcher attachment made it highly adaptable. The Shock Roach was still on his arm, strange how yet no one had called him out for having it on his arm, but he knew it'd be useful if his M4 ever ran dry on ammunition.

His M40A1 Sniper Rifle could prove useful as well. It was a fact that Adrian sometimes ran straight through crossfire just to get somewhere important, but he knew little of 'Aura' and 'Semblances' in a hands-on perspective so something for long distance firefights would be highly useful.

He would bring his trusty Pipe Wrench and his Combat Knife as backup. Satchel Charges would be beneficial since the design could be unknown to the White Fang, making ambushes and surprise attacks possible.

So, it was decided as the doors opened. He would show those White Fang he wasn't a simple maggot grovelling in elephant shit, as his drill instructor would say, but a killing machine worth his title as Corporal, not amphibian shit as his drill instructor would also say.

Walking out of the CCT and back to his house, he ended up being subjected to the scariest thing an academy could offer.

A stampede of late students.

Adrian had to fully leg it or suffer being trampled and or severely dazed. He swore he had seen both Team RWBY and JNPR in the mass of students but chose to ignore such for now as he unlocked the gate to his personal safe space, and humble abode.

Such a random occurrence, almost seemed like some unknown force had made it happen.

Once he closed the front door, he rushed and got to work immediately. Dragging out the crates of supplies, he opened the ones with his weapons and took out what he needed before moving on to the next crate full of PCVs, which he took one out of common sense.

After dragging the crates back to an inconspicuous hiding place, he went to sitting on his couch while checking on the conditions of his weapons. They were all quite pristine despite having a chance they were taken straight from the corpses of HECU marines.

The M40A1 Snipe Rifle had a useful strap on its underside so he could wear it on his back. The scope's sight was clear as day and many of the mechanisms still worked. Bolt-action was clunky and Adrian assumed that semi-automatic rifles existed in Remnant, but it made up with how much punishment it could bring forth.

Perhaps reciting the Rifleman's Creed would be a possibility, if the rifle ever started talking.

His trusty Colt 727 Rifle, only those willing would be able to wield these monsters, many others opted for the nimble MP5. Big, bulky yet held some considerable firepower compared to the MP5, those who had this certainly preferred raw strength over speed.

Truthfully, he was adept in both.

With nothing left to do other than play the waiting game, he got up and walked only to sit back down again, watched the Vale News Network, opened the fridge again and again and went through songs on his iPod all to calm his hyperactive nerves. A lack of combat would be a problem soon, if it affected him this badly…

* * *

 ***7 hours later…** *

It took a while before the "good" witch made her presence known.

Adrian had decided to take a small nap to wait things out after finding out that he was subconsciously walking. Groggily being awoken as a sharp knocking emanated from the front door, he tore off his gas mask and rubbed his eyes. Yawning as he quickly wore his mask, he went to answer.

He was greeted with the rather aggressive face of Glynda Goodwitch, who noticed Adrian's rather dishevelled appearance. "For a marine to be sleeping on the job, you somehow disgrace your great country."

Right, Adrian had talked about America like it was the best thing ever. "Don't blame me for having to wait this long for you to come."

"You should've simply attended classes until I came." Adrian flinched, realising her words made logical sense.

"What's up Goodwitch?"

"Meet me at the docking area. We've just gotten word of a Dust robbery, White Fang."

Goodwitch walked, Adrian scrambled. Her steps reverberated throughout the ground as she made her way to the front gate, maintaining her stoic attitude as Adrian came running for her, weapons on him and on full alert, his pace akin to a true soldier.

"Any intel on their whereabouts?" Adrian asked.

"I'll answer once we get on our Bullhead." Goodwitch snapped as she trampled towards her destination. He chastised himself for asking, knowing he would've wasted time as he followed her.

* * *

 ***[LOCATION: Vale Airspace, Remnant]** *

To say this was sudden was an understatement.

Adrian expected a friendly visit only to know that those terrorists had made their move and were currently attempting to flee with the stolen Dust. On-board on Bullhead in Vale airspace as it flew towards the road the White Fang were currently on.

From what Goodwitch had told him, the White Fang attacked several cargo trucks full of Dust, ruthlessly killing the drivers while only severely injuring a few others. His only response was to growl in anger, eager to give the bastards a lesson on the freedom of justice.

He had his M40A1 Sniper Rifle ready with a fresh round while Goodwitch tightened the grip on her riding crop, still as stone-faced as ever as barely any emotion escaped her mask of total domination over her own self.

"So," Adrian started. "Why'd Oz ask you to accompany me? From what I know you don't have a lot of free time to be doing this."

"I have the time, I simply use it effectively." Goodwitch mused. "And Ozpin assigned me to this particular mission to… socialize with you."

"Well while the Vietnam War was complete torture, I read that friendships were made despite the napalm and bullets. Same applies here, I save your life perhaps and you do the same." Adrian whispered, not wanting to get the attention of the pilots.

Goodwitch harrumphed at the comparison and whispered back. "Your world has a lot of wars."

"Well we don't have Grimm to kill, only ourselves." Adrian grimly affirmed quietly. "That's beside the point though, Oz seems pretty keen in the staff getting along with me."

"Considering you're a man from an entirely different world, Ozpin would certainly ask for cooperation for many reasons." She murmured back.

"Yeah, never mind that now." Adrian returned to his normal speaking voice. "I'm just waiting to pop some heads."

Goodwitch raised a brow at that comment. "You seem eager."

"These assholes signed their death warrants as soon as they decided to join. I've got no sympathy for the blind ma'am, unless I know they're not shit-for-brains trying to kill innocents." Adrian hissed.

"How would you know that?" Goodwitch questioned.

"I'm psychic." Adrian answered.

"Now isn't the time for jokes Mr. Shephard."

"I know, but I have great intuition."

Goodwitch shook her head as the Bullhead neared the cargo trucks, all scattered as a firefight had commenced. Adrian aimed down the scope and counted his targets as the Bullhead slowly descended for Goodwitch to land safely on solid ground.

"Could you draw them out for me?" Adrian asked.

"I'll do my best." Goodwitch answered as she contacted the ground beneath and ran to assist the VPD with their struggle.

The Bullhead ascended hastily and Adrian had a good overlook of the battle before him. Taking aim at a grunt taking cover, he fired the shot and saw his target collapse with a fresh bullet wound.

"Huh, guess gunpowder bullets rip though Aura." Adrian chuckled as he drew the bolt back before sliding it forward. "This will be fun then."

The enemy eventually confirmed Adrian's airborne presence and tried to fruitlessly fire at the marine above. Bullet spread and trajectory meant the bullets missed or didn't reach him, all while Adrian continued to slaughter the terrorists below him.

Goodwitch had torn a part of the road off to use as cover, letting the VPD slowly gain ground against the White Fang and acting as cover in case some of them decided to attack from behind. Her semblance wore her out due to the size of the rubble and she slowly let it stand as she took in some air.

Some White Fang on top of buildings attempted to ambush her and some cops from behind, managing to narrow down their opposition's numbers as cops fell to the ground dead, but Adrian swiftly put down a few while the rest were taken care of as soon as they heard the crack of Adrian's rifle.

Goodwitch stared at the trooper with a solemn smile, knowing he was doing his best to save those righteous. The bullet that ripped through the head of a White Fang soldier attempting to ambush her with a knife brought her back to reality, as she swiftly tore chunks of the road to send toward her attackers.

Reloading as the Bullhead manoeuvred around the firefight, he took aim once more as he expertly tore through the ranks of White Fang. Goodwitch continued to tear out parts of the road and directed them towards their fortifications, drawing them out of cover for Adrian to snipe.

The more the battle dragged on, the less the White Fang had to fight with. The trooper above was easily blowing the brains out of the terrorists stupid enough to attempt to retreat from their cover. Inserting a fresh clip, he was confused to see that none were coming out of the buildings the VPD and Goodwitch were facing.

Adrian got up and knocked on the cockpit door, gesturing to the pilot to land once they opened the door. As the Bullhead descended, Goodwitch's eyes went wide as plates as she activated her Semblance, throwing Ice vials from a Dust holder she had.

"Adrian, behind you! Shoot the Dust!"

The glass holding the Dust shattered in an instant and the trooper turned to see a rocket barrelling straight towards him. Doing as Goodwitch asked, he didn't both aiming and took a shot at the Dust still in the air. The volatile nature of it as the bullet shot through the air caused it to react, creating an ice barrier large enough to take the rocket's explosive impact.

"They have fucking rocket launchers?!" He exclaimed as he turned to the pilot, also as scared as Adrian was when he realized they both would've died. "Land this goddamn thing NOW!"

Adrian held onto a seat as the Bullhead attempted a swift landing. He could see through his mask that the White Fang were now on top of the buildings, wielding Dust-powered rocket launchers as they eliminated the opposition.

Goodwitch was running across the roofs of the building, using her Semblance to rip the guns off their hands before using them to batter them into unconsciousness. She had even thrown a rocket straight back at the one who had shot it, although it did take a lot of effort on her part.

As the Bullhead landed, he could below her was complete chaos, she and Adrian weren't enough to prevent the White Fang blowing the roads and buildings to high hell. Most were retreating to the hijacked trucks, some escaping as their allies stayed behind to heighten the VPD body count. Adrian gritted his teeth as he shot the tire of one of the trucks, impeding any movement.

Those whom were left behind either fought to their deaths, or surrendered for their own well-being. As the VPD arrested those remaining, Goodwitch went to talk with Adrian, the woman in question seeing a glint in Adrian's eye.

"I have to thank you for your reflexes." Goodwitch uttered, "Without them you would not have survived, and Ozpin would certainly have been quite saddened."

"Enough chit-chat, we're going after those bastards." Adrian snorted at her neutral standing and got back into the Bullhead. Goodwitch followed, wondering why he was suddenly so aggressive that even a simple compliment would disappoint him.

* * *

 ***Vale Docks, Remnant** *

As the Bullhead landed behind a VPD fortification that faced the dock's warehouses, Adrian had jumped off as soon as he deemed it safe to do so, while Goodwitch simply walked out like the mistress she was. The police recognized Ozpin's second-in-command and let her through, alongside the trooper whom they had heard was a Huntsman from Atlas.

"You have a plan?" Adrian asked with a raised brow.

"Certainly," Goodwitch said. "You'll lead a team of VPD's special forces inside, snuff them out before they can even call for help. I'll be doing the same."

"No. I'm not doing that."

"Excuse you? What a ridiculous comment."

"Well go ahead and shove one of your comments up my ass. I'm going in there alone, I've done it once and I'm going to do it again, okay?"

"Adrian," Goodwitch had a look of shock and worry plastered on her face, quite taken back by his vulgarity. "Please, don't make such a reckless decision… it's what got your friends killed back at Black Mesa…"

He winced at what she said. She was right, his ineptitude caused the death of those he wanted to help escape, he was just a Corporal, not a strategist by the likes of Sun Tzu. But even then, the risk of leading another team to their death, it pained him to even think about it.

"I'm doing it alone." Adrian decided as she strapped his sniper rifle on his back and drew his M14. "Take the special forces with you, I'll be fine."

Goodwitch sighed, letting Adrian go as he ran into the docks. She could think of a few reasons why Adrian had refused to do what was best. He was still a man after all, one who had honestly gone through something even she dreaded. A face mixed with annoyance and worry showed itself.

But she had a job to do, they both did.

* * *

 _ **SOOTHING ANTAGONIST  
**_ _ **\- CHRIS JENSEN, HALF-LIFE: OPPOSING FORCE OST**_

Adrian made sure to slow down as to not expose his footsteps as he crouched behind a cargo tanker, breathing lightly to calm himself down. Peeking out of cover, he saw several White Fang patrolling an open area, along with a few others surrounding a radio of sorts.

He tracked those on patrol and made himself a plan. Those surrounding the radio could be calling for reinforcements, or some aircraft to help transport the stolen Dust. A Satchel Charge would deal with the idiots bundled in one place. The others he would just have to take out the old-fashioned way.

So, he took out a Satchel Charge and briefly went out of cover to throw it, quickly dashing back into cover once he had done so. He could hear it scrap across the ground, before hearing the bewildered surprise of the grunts.

"The hell…?"

"What is that?"

"I think someone threw it."

Adrian grimaced, seeing that his prediction was true. Taking hold of the detonator, he had to smile at the last comment one of them made.

"Ex…plosive!"

Adrian slammed his thumb onto the detonator's button, causing the charge to erupt into a ball of heat, taking those surrounding the radio with it, as it burned through everything, leaving nothing behind other than the charred remains of the radio and the once-alive terrorists.

"Someone's here!"

"Find them! Now!"

 _ **[END MUSIC]**_

 _ **CREATURE SLAUGHTER  
\- JESPER KYD, BORDERLANDS 2 OST**_

Bolting his way out of cover, he drew his M14 and fired at a deer goon attempting to rush him with a primitive sword. He mentally frowned at the fact she brought a sword to a rifle fight as the bullets tore through her Aura and eventually her flesh.

Two others, one a crocodile Faunus and the other a rabbit Faunus, fired their Dust rifles at Adrian, him sprinting to cover as the bullets hit him. He could feel the elements wreak havoc on his skin, but it wasn't as painful as gunpowder bullets and his PCV energy helped dampen some of the damage.

Another goon, a dog Faunus tried to rush him while firing his Dust revolver. Adrian simply powered on like an incoming train before tackling the man, conveniently right beside another tanker. Adrian took out his Combat Knife and shanked it through the Faunus' throat, them gurgling for life before falling limp.

Loading the M14's grenade launcher attachment, his shield energy was at a 93%, quite measly compared to the Grimm's claws or the bullets he used. He came out of cover and swiftly fired the grenade at the two offenders, them failing to react as the explosion tore them apart.

Slowly, more White Fang flooded from different places. Adrian remained behind the tanker, taking peeks to fire a few shots at those attempting to make their way to his position. Taking his sniper rifle from his back, he aimed at an enemy sniper hiding behind a few Dust crates. As soon as they made themselves known, Adrian blew their head off instantly.

He continued this song and dance, of gunfire and death. Soon, he assumed it would be safe for him to exit to find other places to cover him, seeing and checking that the numbers were narrowed enough so he could take the brunt of their force.

So, he ran out of cover. They heard his footsteps and fired at him. The bullets did minimal damage, Adrian expecting to only suffer a few burn wounds after this was all done.

He failed to notice however, that a sniper hiding inconspicuously behind the warehouse windows took a pot-shot straight at Adrian. He knew it did nothing, then internally swore as the bullet somehow had managed to short-circuit his PVC temporarily.

He ran faster and jumped into cover, but not before someone took a lucky shot to his right leg. He grunted in pain as she shifted farther away from his attackers. He threw down a well-hidden Satchel Charge before tending to his wounded leg.

He tore some of his shirt off to bandage the wound, him sighing in relief as the PCV reactivated and went back to its original level. How and why did the sniper's bullet short-circuit his combat vest?

Then he remembered.

He had read a book on Dust. The material had elemental properties and could be used in bullets. And he deduced that the sniper had used an electricity Dust bullet to try and kill him, instead it powered down his vest.

He needed to be extra careful, those with electricity bullets could send him to an early grave and they needed to be taken care of first. He picked up his thrown Satchel Charge before taking aim at where he presumed he was shot, leaving cover momentarily. The sniper slowly peeked their head out, but managed to duck as Adrian fired.

Gritting his teeth in pain, he threw down his sniper rifle and drew out his Pipe Wrench as a bull Faunus came into his hiding spot. Throwing the wrench at the attacker dazed them as he rushed them, plunging his Combat Knife into their throat and ending their life immediately.

Once that was over, he checked through his ammunition. One clip left for the M40A1 and three for his M14. He needed to get rid of the sniper somehow without risking himself in the process.

He had an idea though. The bullet would short-circuit, but not injure unless their rifle was semi-automatic. He aimed at the warehouse window, grunting due to his hurt leg, and saw the sniper leaving cover.

Both fired.

But only one remained.

Their bullets again stopped his PCV's functions, but his bullet killed the sniper in an instant.

Adrian grinned on a job well done, hiding behind cover once more. It was a process of hiding and firing as the reinforcements poured from the warehouse door until none of them remained. As he left cover, he saw their corpses strewn about but remained unfazed by it. They got what was coming for them.

 _ **[END MUSIC]**_

Limping his way to the warehouse, he opened a small door that lead inside. Aiming at whoever was still inside, he was shocked to see a well-built man sitting on top of some Dust crates, with short, black hair and the normal White Fang attire except for his top's collar. He had a custom mask unlike the common cannon fodder and had several black tattoos on his left arm.

The more surprising thing however was what he was sharpening.

"Is that a chainsaw… sword?" Adrian muttered in disbelief, Remnant really did have bizarre weapons, almost to a point where he felt at a disadvantage.

The man saw Adrian and growled, not hesitating as he activated his chainsaw sword, revving it up and marching aggressively.

"You're dead, Altesian."

In the blink of an eye, Adrian knew what he had to do.

Run.

He dashed for a ladder leading to a balcony overlooking the warehouse as the man sprinted. He successfully managed to climb the ladder before the man sawed off the bottom half. Adrian sighed in relief, then in fear when the man suddenly jumped and took a hold of the remaining ladder, lifting himself up.

Adrian groaned and took out a Satchel Charge, a plan already formulated. The explosion could perhaps destroy his Aura, or better yet kill him. It didn't hurt to try.

As the man stood up and roared as he charged, Adrian threw the Satchel Charge at his chest and detonated it mid-air, enveloping the man in smoke. Adrian drew his Pipe Wrench and waited anxiously, only to see the man come from the smoke battered, but not dead.

He charged instantly and made a downward slash, with Adrian rolling over to the side. He followed with a sidewards slash which Adrian ducking before slamming the pipe wrench onto his foot. He roared in pain and attempted to grab Adrian by the head, which the trooper narrowly dodged.

Now Adrian had to fight in close-quarters, or find an opening to fire at. He dodged another slash but was kneed in the gut as the man grabbed his head and powered it down onto the floor. His PCV sustained most of the impact and he rolled away to prevent his own head getting sawed off.

He drew his M14 and fired at his left hand, causing him to grunt as he lost blood from the bullet wound. He charged forward as Adrian continued firing. The bullets hurt him but he still roared forward, managing to grip onto his M14 and ripped it out of Adrian's hands before smacking his head sideways like a baseball bat.

He was hide by an upward strike and punched in the face. Adrian recovered quickly enough to escape a downwards slash but not fast enough to stop the man from grabbing his shirt's collar and throwing him off the balcony.

As he collided with the ground, he groaned in pain. Despite the PCV taking most of the damage, it still hurt a lot. He looked up to see that the man was now wielding his M14.

"I'll make your pain short."

Adrian scrambled to find cover as the man sprayed bullets across the warehouse, Adrian decided to hide behind a Dust crate as the gun ran empty. Mumbling in disappointment, he threw the gun down before jumping off the balcony, his own recovering Aura taking some of the force.

Adrian only had his sniper rifle left, and perhaps he could've taken a shot if the man wasn't running at him full speed despite the foot injury. Adrian couldn't face the man in close-quarters, since he would get beaten and sawed to death.

And so, Adrian threw another Satchel Charge and detonated it, running for his dear life and the dazed man followed close behind, his broken foot causing a problem as well.

* * *

Goodwitch had completed her mission several minutes before Adrian had started running. As the woman checked over the warehouses one last time, he rushed over to where Adrian was to see if he was fine. Surely enough, Adrian came limping from the tankers that covered the warehouse.

Her sigh of relief turned into horror once she realised that he was being chased.

"GLYNDA!" Adrian screamed. "Get this guy off my tail!"

She obliged, using some of her energy to send some Dust crates hurtling straight towards the man. He was forced to dodge the crates, but one hit him square on the head and he collapsed, momentarily dazed by the sheer impact.

"I own you one." Adrian panted as he finally reached a safe distance. "I've got a plan."

"Hopefully this one doesn't go as badly as your last one did." Goodwitch remarked.

He held up his two remaining Satchel Charges. "Two of those are enough to kill them. Just send them flying and I'll detonate them."

Goodwitch shook her head. "We want him alive. If one I assume removes his Aura, then use your rifle to wound his right hand."

Adrian agreed in a flash and let Glynda take control of the charge. He held his detonator and gripped it tightly as the man rose with newfound rage. He charged, but recoiled as he saw the satchel charge fly straight towards him.

Adrian detonated it immediately as It blew up in his face. The man came out of the smoke as he did before, but he was slowly walking, groaning as it seemed the explosion rocked his mind. It only took a swift shot from Adrian's M40A1 to send him back to reality.

The man roared and collapsed, both his hands injured and unusable. Both Adrian and Goodwitch walked up to him, both carrying an aura of absolute victory.

"Now, you will stay here while the VPD come and arrest you." Goodwitch venomously stated.

"Get some." Adrian simply commented.

The man shook his head and sneered, before painfully laughing at the two. He shakily stood up, staring at the sky as both Goodwitch and Adrian levelled their respective weapons. He lowered his head back at the two, staring intensely through his red and white mask.

"You really think that I'm going to stay put like I'm your fucking pet? I despise you humans, thinking they can push Faunuskind around like trash. The true leader of the White Fang, he's going to bring a new age where we're finally the alphas of this dirtball…"

He spread his arms out, the sun behind him showering its light onto the man like a paragon of his cause, a vicious cause however. Goodwitch swore she was hearing the low thrum of Bullhead propellers while Adrian tightened his grip on his M4A01.

The thrum got louder and louder before it became distinct, and Goodwitch could only gasp.

"And his name is Adam Taurus."

At that moment three White Fang Bullheads made their appearance, two circling the area with their mounted guns aimed at the two while the third descended to land. Its doors opened to reveal several soldiers with their rifles holstered and in the middle of them, the one and only Adam Taurus.

He stepped out of the Bullhead silently, one hand free while another gripping the hilt of his sword. He stopped right behind the man, not moving a single muscle as he glared at the two, harrumphing.

"Ondo." Adam ordered. "Get into the Bullhead, now."

"But sir!" Ondo stuttered. "W-We could kill them here, end their-

"There will be no more casualties, especially on our side." Adam growled, although his tone was almost pleading in nature. "Get on the ship, don't make me do something I'll regret."

Ondo stood there, taking in his superior's words before sighing as he marched his way to the Bullhead behind him. Adam followed, saying nothing to the two as he got on. The doors closed and the airship ascended, followed but the two Bullheads covering its flank as they flew into the sunset, and to places unknown.

"Who, the hell was that…?" Adrian murmured questioningly. He had never heard of a 'Adam Taurus', nor did he know he was apparently the "leader" of the White Fang.

"I'll explain later," Goodwtich answered, staring at Adrian's injured leg. "You should get that leg tended to."

"I know, you don't need to tell me. Could you go get my M14?" The woman in question nodded and Adrian limped back to the fortifications, hoping for treatment while Goodwitch stared into the sunset, sighing as she went back as well.

Even if they won, they still failed at the same time.

* * *

 ***Team RWBY's Dorm, Beacon Academy***

Yang was currently switching through the channels on their room's television when she suddenly landed on the VNN. Ruby was napping with her uniform still on, Weiss was studying on the only desk in the room and Blake was reading one of her books.

"This is Lisa Lavender with breaking news." She began. "Recently, authorities were able to prevent a mass robbery conducted by the White Fang with the help of two hunters. Gerald is now live on the scene."

Blake's head perked up from her book, eyes wide from the mentioning of the White Fang.

"Wish we were there, would've kicked some ass right girls?" Yang cheerfully asked to not answer, she groaned at the silence, deflating.

"This is Gerald Red-Sun live from the scene. Miss Goodwitch, could you explain how it went?" The microphone they were holding aimed itself at Ozpin's right-hand woman.

"It went splendidly. The VPD's special forces did their job in ensuring peace resumes in Vale. Although I do have to thank the man right behind me." Goodwitch explained before moving out of the way to reveal an injured Adrian Shephard.

"Wait, Adrian?" At Yang's mention of the name, Weiss looked at the TV with interest while Ruby suddenly awoken herself, spluttering on about how see had heard his name before staring at the screen of him having his leg tended to. Blake didn't care much, only interested in the White Fang and what they were up to.

"I must say he's quite an expert on what he does." Goodwitch mused. "Cleared out an entire warehouse of White Fang in solitude and went into battle with their lieutenant, not winning the fight mind you, but surviving such an encounter."

"Woah…" Ruby glowed starry-eyed. He was like an action hero kicking butt and saving the day. Then she remembered what Adrian had told her several days back, about having to kill. She quietened down, having the thought that Adrian had killed those who opposed him.

Blake was much the same, it was true that Ondo was purely loyal to Adam's cause and had willingly left his own, stable life to achieve Adam's twisted sense of equality, but having the bugging feeling that Adrian had left no survivors disgusted her. Those Faunus had families, lives. Was Adrian really that monstrous to consider ending them?

"Sir," The reporter aimed his microphone at the soldier. "Is it true, did you really clear out that much White Fang by yourself?"

Adrian's answer was to swat the thing out of his face before grumbling for them to go away. The girls were surprised, yet weren't considering what they knew of him so far.

Ruby still had the nagging thought on her mind, and it needed an answer, so she got up from her bed and made her way to the door, rubbing her eyes to get herself in a better condition.

"Rubes, where are you going?" Yang asked her little sister.

"Uh, I'm gonna wait for Adrian at the Cliffside." The rosy girl answered.

"You _really_ like him don't you." Yang teased while Ruby pouted in embarrassment as she left. Yang had heard from both her and Weiss that Adrian had apparently helped with Weiss' drama with her team, and since he solved it, she was more than happy to let her go see him.

She was making new friends, after all.

* * *

 ***[LOCATION: Vale Airspace, Remnant]** *

Both Goodwitch and Adrian got onto the Bullhead straight back to Beacon as soon as possible, both extremely tired after their individual ordeals. As the aircraft soared through Vale's airspace, Goodwitch glanced at the trooper, who had his head down and arms laid on his legs as he was sitting on one of the Bullhead's seats.

"Is something wrong?" Goodwitch raised her concern.

"Aside from a bruised ego and an injured leg, not at all." Adrian remarked lazily.

"Will you tell me about it? It is what Ozpin would want." Goodwitch suggested.

Adrian remained silent, but spoke with a murmur of depression. "You were right, if I had brought a few of those special forces I wouldn't have this leg injury and well, I would've been able to capture that Ondo guy."

"I'll admit, your actions were reckless and completely and awfully planned." Goodwitch argued. "But you still remain, either you're quite stubborn or you know what you're doing."

"Both." Adrian answered. "I did my best without a team, because that's how I roll these days."

"Say, you seem to dislike the idea." Goodwitch thought out loud. "Mind telling me why?"

"A woman once said it wasn't worth hiding shit that pains you." Adrian quoted. "She's dead, alongside those I wanted to escape with. My inexperience got them killed, my orders and my instructions and I still feel guilty about it. If only it wasn't my first day there I would've had a chance to save them…"

"She would have also said that it wasn't worth it, latching onto a painful past." Goodwitch refuted. "Such guilt will only drag you down, for your benefit I suggest you attempt to let that pain go, honour their memory another way without having to hurt yourself."

"Any bright ideas then?" He sarcastically quipped.

"That is for you to decide."

Adrian shook his head, but didn't let those words leave him though. She was right, carrying their memories is difficult, but Adrian had always managed to do such. Carrying the guilt of "killing" them would only make him feel worse with every passing day. Whatever he wanted or planned to do, it was his choice.

He considered those words as the Bullhead slowly landed, the doors opening to let the two of them out. Both were surprised to see a patiently-waiting Ruby Rose, swaying around and fidgeting to keep herself entertained.

"U-Umm, Professor Goodwitch." Ruby greeted and bowed.

"Hello Miss Rose, I was just about to go anyway." She looked over and glanced at Adrian. "Once you've rested well, I suggest you come to Ozpin for a few words."

The soldier nodded and watched Goodwitch silently walk away, accompanied by her own flair of authority, then stared quizzically at the leader of Team RWBY, flabbergasted she was even waiting for him, and doing so without her team which she had quickly come to consider friends.

"Ruby, what are you even doing here?" Adrian sighed.

"I saw you on the VNN and you were hurt." Ruby answered, accompanied with a "I also had a question on my mind as well."

Adrian furrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, indicating he wanted an answer to both.

"Well, you did help me when Weiss got angry at me, so I thought I should return the favour by checking how you were. And I wanted to ask… did you really kill that many White Fang?"

Adrian took in a few shallow breaths and had his head down. "Well my leg's fine, and well…" He started to walk away from Ruby, surprising her. "I did, I killed them for making the wrong choices and for wanting to hurt innocent people."

"B-But!" Ruby marched up to Adrian and faced him. "They're still people! What gives you the right to judge them for what they did, you don't know what they would've done to protect their families!"

"It's not a fairy-tale, kid." Adrian solemnly stated, clenching in fist in frustration. "When people fight, you might never know why they fight. War is war, survival's the only reasonable thought and just, fighters need a purpose. They chose the wrong one."

Ruby didn't say anything as Adrian brushed past her and walked back to his own house. She was convinced maybe things were different and that her ideals were justified. But when logic spoke, it said that he had far more experience in human and Faunus conflict, and maybe…

Maybe this isn't the story of valour she wanted.

* * *

 ***[LOCATION: UNKNOWN, TRIAGULATING POSITION… "MOUNTAIN GLENN"]***

 _[ADAM TAURUS]: (disgruntled) "What are you two doing here? Going to sneer at me?"_

 _[MALE VOICE]: (chuckles) "Nah, our matriarch wanted to talk with you about your mess-up, y'know we needed that Dust after all."_

 _[FEMALE VOICE]: "Cinder's not going to be happy about this…"_

 _[ADAM TAURUS] (sighs) "I don't need you to 'entertain' me. Lead me to her. Ondo, you come with me."_

 _[…]_

 _[…]_

 _[…]_

 _[CINDER]: "Ah, Mercury, Emerald. You may leave now."_

 _[…]_

 _[CINDER: "Now Adam, I want to know…_ _ **Why**_ _, did your little band of Faunus_ _ **fail**_ _to bring me what I wanted~?"_

 _[ONDO]: "He's not to blame you bitch! They had a Huntsman and they kicked the asses of all our brothers and sisters so don't you even think of harming our leader!"_

 _[CINDER]: "_ _ **Oh~?**_ _And who gave you permission to say a single, insignificant word?"_

 _[ADAM TAURUS]: "Before you do anything, he's right. This Huntsman could fire through Aura according to Ondo, and he didn't look Atleasian, nor did he act like it."_

 _[CINDER]: "I watched the news you buffoon. But now that you say that, he's caught my interest. Thank you for bringing this up, I won't kill your lieutenant for interrupting me."_

 _[ADAM TAURUS]: (growls) "You even try and I'll make sure your blood soaks the dirt of this ruined city. You will not hurt any of my followers…"_

 _[CINDER]: (giggles) "I still need them though, so that would be idiotic of me to do. Hehe,_ _ **ta**_ _~"_

* * *

 **Ta-da! This fic has been updated!**

 **I took quite a while to post this. Mostly procrastination as well as the problems of middle school. But during that time, I read a fic that got me out of such procrastination, and I want to share it. Five words:**

" **Class 78** **th** **Watches the Future".**

 **It's a Danganronpa fanfic by** _ **Spirit Soldier**_ **and I highly recommended it If you're a big fan of the games, I know I am considering I've just started on Trigger Happy Havoc.**

 **Now, I also wanted to mention that Volume 7 was official announced and wow, I do like the well, character designs of Team RWBY and I had a thought on it. If anyone has seen the concept/official art for Project Borealis' Combine Elites, imagine that but more akin to a HECU style of flair to it, because to hell with it, their designs are awesome for the Half-Life 2 games and Project Borealis practically nailed a good design down too.**

 **I hope the action in this chapter was sufficient. When I write them down I base them off logic and the characters planning their next move and using pre-set skills to evolve them into newer tactics, which RWBY had done well in the past, notably the fight between them and Paladin Torchwick.**

 **Also if the characters are a little OCC, let me know because that benefits the condition of this fanfic.**

 **The last part concerning the antagonists I chose as an aesthetic choice, since pure vocal recordings are kind of cool. Also, I was lazy I guess.**

 **Also about** _ **Creature Slaughter**_ **, I have no clue who composed the track since it wasn't on the official soundtrack on the Spotify app, or anywhere I looked. If anyone could tell me who made the track for the Natural Selection Annex, that'd be highly appreciated.**

 **Also, I'm not excited for Borderlands 3, considering I don't ever plan on paying money to Epic Games and their god-awful store. But I may be watching some gameplay through a friend of mine, so yeah, Borderlands 2 will always be my cup of tea.**

 **There are several references too. See if you can find them.**

 **Now I'm going to review two comments but two anonymous users:**

 _ **Bill Cipher3 –**_ _The Pipe Wrench will always be a last resort weapon, don't expect it to be used much, for now that is. I have something in mind to make the metal whacky thing a little more effective…_

 _ **Guest –**_ _I'll say it again, I update when I can, I have a life and I wish to make sure it doesn't go down the gutters. Don't expect weekly updates, although to give you some solace, I usually update with a month or two depending on how busy I am._

 _ **Guest –**_ _No need to screech, patience is virtue. But here's the next chapter, I hope it reaches you expectations (also if you're the same Guest from before, I guess I've answered both your questions)._

 **And with that out of the way, I bid you adieu, until next time.**


	10. To Know Better

_**Kept you waiting huh?**_

 _ **I'll talk reviews and personal thoughts in the next chapter. For now, enjoy the read.**_

* * *

 ***Armoury, Beacon Academy***

Adrian remembered he had something left unfinished two days back.

Despite the warehouse assault going somewhat successfully, this didn't help scratch that itch Adrian had for firing a gun in his own hands. So, remembering the directions he was given, he made his way to the armoury, where there was presumably a firing range for him to appease his gunpowder desires.

Before heading home yesterday, he went to check on the time the armoury would open, which was rather early into the morning before most students woke up, to prepare and set things up before they woke up and started arriving.

Heading inside the armoury to do his business, he saw one of the armoury workers currently setting up several tool racks in one of the rooms. Many of the working staff at Beacon Academy know of Adrian and his position in the academy's hierarchy, so he only went through a weapons check courtesy of the armoury worker before resuming his course.

So, he walked on, spotting more armoury workers setting up shop before the student's wakeup call as he opened the doors to the firing range, surprised to see a student practicing her aim with her own sniper rifle.

Ruby Rose jumped in surprise that someone had entered and misfired, missing the target dummy as crudely as a 6-year-old's school project. She tensed when she saw the familiar green of Adrian's attire, remembering their short exchange yesterday.

"Nice one kid." Adrian sarcastically remarked. He walked up to her and eyed her rifle. "Say, mind letting me test that thing?"

Ruby Rose couldn't help but calm down at his welcoming self. "Sure thing!" She handed Adrian her baby as he went to grab the weapon, only for him to nearly trip due to the weight of her weapon, being a high calibre sniper-scythe.

"Jeez kid! What is this thing?! Mjolnir?!" Adrian heaved as he struggled to lift the weapon up. "How do you even carry this thing?!"

"Lots of milk!" Ruby enthusiastically answered, before her eyes widened in realization. "What's a 'Mjolnir'?"

Adrian put on a non-visible fake smile and calmly answered her question with a "Just a saying I say, sometimes." Ruby shrugged and took her weapon off Adrian as he finally stretched himself to relieve the pain.

Ruby went back to her row, with Adrian occupying the row left of her as he drew and comfortably aimed his M40A1 Sniper Rifle before firing. Ruby could see that he was firing much too quickly and was aptly curious of why.

"You know, you're not meant to be firing that quickly when it's just a target dummy…" Ruby squinted in disapproval.

"Murphy's law. Law 20: If the enemy is in range – SO ARE YOU!" He raised his fist to make his point known, grinning as he exclaimed.

Ruby flinched at the volume but was still curious. "What's Murphy's law?"

"It was a Vacuo thing." Adrian lied. "It states that 'anything that can go wrong, will go wrong'".

"And who was Murphy?"

"Murphy was a grunt. KIA on his first mission so I've heard."

Ruby shifted uncomfortably at the mention of death, Adrian saw it put decided to ignore her, but not before attempting to at least loosen her up.

"Or for a kid like you, you could follow Yhprum's law, where 'anything that can go right, will go right'." Ruby smiled but was still conflicted.

"So… if wanting to save everyone is right, then it'll happen, right?" Ruby asked him, which he replied by shaking his head.

"What you think is good, but what you want to do because of it is impossible."

"Well, I became a huntress to be like the heroes my mom would tell me about in the fairy-tales she read. Is… is that not possible now?"

Adrian could see the doubt in her eyes, and sighed. "Being a hero is about doing the right thing, but it also requires you to make choices that'll affect you for a long time. Sometimes, you can't save everyone, but you can save the people that are still here. World's a horrid place, we just have to put up with it, don't we?"

"I…" Ruby went blank in thought before looking forward with a solemn look. "I guess."

Adrian knew for the most part that he wouldn't be able to convince her on a whim. It was best he let that thought sit there and wait for proof to come around instead. He wished to relieve Ruby of her awkwardness towards him and scanned her for anything… flawed.

"You're gripping your rifle too tightly." Adrian noticed that she was suddenly clenching her hands around Crescent Rose too much for her to make flexible shots, or to stop any sort of stress or tension preparing for a shot.

"Huh?" Ruby perked up in surprise and quickly loosened her grip. "Sorry."

"Now it's too light." Adrian sighed and waved her over. "Come here, let me teach you something."

Ruby obliged and went over to Adrian, where he moved away and handed him his sniper rifle to her. She was again surprised to feel it being plopped onto her palms and stared at Adrian.

"So… what are we doing?" She asked him.

"You're using your rifle wrong, or you're doing it in a way that won't work." Adrian explained. "Tell me, when you're up against a Nevermore, what would you do?"

"Shoot it until it faaaaaaaaalls!"

Adrian smirked, but continued. "You can do it the Ruby way, or you can do what an expert marksman would do and shoot the thing down before it even has a chance to fire its feathers."

"Grimm are… different I have to admit. They tend to just rush in without any sort of second thought on it. They may not react to fear, but they do to pain. If you hurt the Nevermore, the first thing it would do is to retreat and circle around for another charge."

"And what if they don't?" Ruby titled her head for an answer.

"That's what being a marksman is about. Remember Murphy's law, 'anything that can go wrong, will go wrong', so a good marksman prepares for the possibility of their plan going awry." Adrian replied.

"That's beside the point. You're being too tense when you hold your rifle." Adrian pointed at the target dummy and looked at the girl. "Aim at that, let me see your posture."

Ruby did so and took aim at the dummy. Adrian took a moment to study her posture, her body was too tightened and unrelaxed, her arms locked into positions without any flexibility to them, her palms were sweating, and her face was too obviously uncomfortable.

"No, it's just awful. I've seen recruits stand better pissing in the toilets than you do." Adrian sighed in disappointment. "Kid, have you ever had a moment where you aren't using your scythe?"

"Erm…" Ruby's face when blank for an answer. "Nope…"

"That explains a lot of things. Here." Adrian took the time to adjust her posture, pointing out several things in the process.

" _Keep calm, don't let the stress get to you or you'll miss the shot."_

" _Sure thing, Adrian."_

" _Keep your legs firm, but not too stiff. You want to be able to not trip, and be able to run If you get found out."_

" _Noted!"_

" _Try and adjust the rifle's position, it should come straight back into your shoulder once you fire and absorb any sort of recoil."_

" _Uh, got it."_

" _There's a thing my instructors called "firing on a respiratory pause". If you suddenly stop breathing as you prep to fire, don't worry, that's a normal thing."_

" _Mhm, understood."_

" _In this situation, you can fire whenever you're ready. But in others, you should take the shot at the right moment and hit the nail in the coffin. You've approximately have at least 3 to 4 seconds before they relay your position or seek cover."_

" _Alright. Here goes…"_

Ruby took a deep breath, mentally prepared herself, and fired. The bullet hit the dummy square on the head as it fell, a large hole burrowed into it.

"Nice one. Granted, there's not things like wind or terrain as factors, but a good shot nonetheless." Adrian cheered.

"Thanks!" Her cheerful, peppy attitude shone through again, giving Adrian a genuine smile at a job well done. "I think I'll take your words to heart and train tomorrow. But can I ask something?" She said as Ruby switched her sniper-scythe to its carry form.

Adrian nodded and waited for Ruby to respond, who awkwardly dug her heels onto the ground and struggled to convey an answer to him. Finally, she faced the trooper, with a weird blush on her face and clamped lips.

"I was wondering… if you'd like to sneak back here during the after-hours?"

Adrian pointed a finger at her, then himself and then to the floor, signifying the armoury. Through the green-tinted lenses, Ruby could see the bewilderment that had taken over him.

"That's dumb. I'm not doing that."

Ruby wasn't surprised that Adrian refused, but still held a shocked look regardless. "But, why not? The staff here don't let me use the bigger tools!"

"Then just bring me along before the armoury closes, I'll use the tools you want."

Ruby raised her finger to argue back but put it down as her brain processed the facts Adrian had spit out. "Oh, that's actually a way better plan than mine…"

Adrian slapped his forehead and chuckled. "You don't plan this stuff out, do you?" He mused.

"Nope, usually I can think on the fly when I'm fighting Grimm, but when there's no action around, my brain becomes mush and I don't think as well." Ruby sheepishly smiled, rubbing the back of her head.

"Figures. Why me though?" Adrian had a sense of why he was being invited but decided the answer from Ruby would be more informative.

"Well… we can be friends, can't we?" Adrian nodded haphazardly to not send the girl into a depression and the confidence in Ruby rose regardless. "Friends hang out with each other, and no one would be as crazy for weapons as you and I are!"

"That's an exaggeration." Adrian pointed out. "But if you say so."

"So, here before it closes?" Ruby reminded, which Adrian answered with a nod. Ruby couldn't help but squeal at another successful friendship while Adrian chuckled at such an energetic reaction. "Alright, well I got to go and wake up the others. I'll see you here later, and that's a promise!" She affirmed confidently as she rushed out of the armoury with her semblance.

Adrian, although having come to itch his trigger finger, felt that bonding with the leader of Team RWBY was enough for him, and slowly made his way out of the armoury, facing the joyous destruction Ruby had brought upon it, as staff went to pick up and clean what Ruby's semblance had toppled over or had made fly away from their original spots.

"Somehow, I wish this would keep going on forever." Adrian pondered as he revisited the fresh air of the prestigious academy and walked back home.

* * *

 ***Professor Goodwitch's Classroom, Beacon Academy***

Although Ozpin had never forced Adrian to go to classes, as he was well above the age of them, he still felt them useful to his new life here, especially combat classes. Aura, Semblances, Dust and the mighty hybrid weapons many huntsman and huntress wielded, Adrian needed to know how to fight against these factors and eventually use them to his benefit.

So, all the students eyed the rather grown man sitting attentively in his seat and listening to everything Goodwitch had to say. Among the students were Team RWBY, curiously wondering what in Oum's name Adrian was doing in a class designated for mostly teens.

"What 'cha think he's doing?" Yang whispered as he saw him grab a notebook and scribble down notes.

"Obviously being a good student and noting down key points for further study." Weiss informed.

"Weiss, he's not even a student to begin with." Blake rationalized, quite bewildered to see him here regardless.

"He's cool." Ruby cooed out of the blue, which caught the attention of the remainder of Team RWBY as they all shuffled closer without the girl realising. "He should fight."

Suddenly, Yang put both her hands on Ruby's face cheeks, surprising her as she silently yelped at contact. She could see Yang with a cheeky smile, Weiss looked disappointed and Blake upheld her stone-faced exterior.

"Want Adrian to fight, huh?" Yang nudged her sister's shoulder as she teased her.

"Uh, like, well, like Adrian we've like, never seen him fight!" Ruby reasoned.

"Well, we _have_ seen him fight, against _Grimm_." Weiss emphasized.

"But, not against huntsmen and huntresses like us!" Ruby reasoned once more. The team understood, as Adrian was obviously a solider, but they had never truly seen him fight against people instead of Grimm.

Yang nodded, before grinning as she put her hand up. The others were confused as to what she was doing, but their questions would soon be answered.

"Professor Goodwitch?"

"Yes, Miss Xiao Long?"

"Can my team be the first to fight?"

"If that is what you want. Which team would you like to fight against?"

Yang then aimed a finger at the currently occupied Adrian. "Him."

Adrian looked completely befuddled, since he was deeply enthralled in writing his notes down and was out of the loop for some time, while Goodwitch simply raised a brow at Yang, making her feel like she was an utter idiot for even asking such a damned question.

"Miss Xiao Long, Mr. Shephard is _not_ a student of Beacon Academy, but an associate of the headmaster who attends classes out of his own will, nor does he have a team to fight yours with. So, I suggest you stop asking questions like that and- "

"I'll fight them." Adrian smoothly said as he shut the notebook and placed it on his desk.

"Mr. Shephard, you do not have to team to fight against them with. Besides, you don't have an Aura of any kind so I would not be able to track yours, nor be able to track your PCV's energy levels due to… complications." Goodwitch attempted to stop Adrian's nonsense.

"Well, I can't refuse a fight, especially from girls like them. Besides, I've been through worse than teenagers with gun-swords or sword-guns." Adrian said, earning some admiration from Team RWBY for not refusing due to his morals.

"Then… I shall see if Headmaster Ozpin accepts this."

And with a stoic face, Professor Goodwitch left the classroom to attempt to reason with Ozpin about Adrian's honestly thick-minded idea. As much as she wanted to believe that his request would become null and void with Ozpin's command, she had known the man for a while, and there was always one thing that made him stand out.

Ozpin just _loved_ to defy all expectations.

So, what was most likely, Ozpin would accept Adrian's idea to fight four, teenage girls without an Aura or Semblance to even the playing field. He was that sort of man, never leaving the corners unchecked and wanting to know _everything_ about his associates.

So, as Goodwitch called the headmaster, she prepared herself to not sigh, or complain about Ozpin's decisions. She knew that his defiance would be the more likely option to encounter, and she steeled herself to hear it from Ozpin himself.

Alas, defiance is still stupidity in a sense.

"Ah, Glynda. Might I ask why you're calling me during class hours?" Ozpin's voice rung through her Scroll, but she made no hesitation to reply.

"Mr. Shephard has asked me to give him permission to fight Team RWBY." Goodwitch answered, still sighing. Defiance is stupidity in a sense.

"Well, he certainly can. Tell him that I gave him permission, but to wait. I'll be there in a moment." Before Goodwitch could even let a word escape her lips, Ozpin shut down the call and was probably making his way to her combat class.

If Goodwitch had to assume of why this was, both Adrian and Ruby had a peculiar trait to them. Adrian hailed from a different world and had fought off an alien invasion with the help of his deceased comrades and Ruby had a certain power that only Ozpin's inner circle knew of, and that power would be extremely effective if she was trained well.

So Goodwitch simply sighed before entering the classroom, making sure her stern presence shut up most of the chatter of uneducated matters before facing Adrian. Although she stared him down quite harshly, she wished the man wasn't wearing a helmet with lens.

"Mr. Shephard, Ozpin has agreed to let you fight Team RWBY, but will also be coming down to this class for what I can only assume is to watch it happen." She informed.

As soon as those words came out of her mouth, many scrambled to look at least decent for the Headmaster's arrival, while some gossiped about why he would be coming for a simple fight in the first place. Both Adrian and Team RWBY were thinking: Just why exactly?

" _Maybe he's coming… to check up on Team RWBY! In that case, I have to make sure I don't disappoint him. You can do this Ruby!"_

" _Headmaster's coming, huh? That's cool, maybe I could impress him with my strength perhaps."_

" _So, the Headmaster of Beacon Academy is coming to see how we fight? Then I must make sure this team fights well, I'll have to make sure Ruby knows what she's doing…"_

" _Interesting…"_

" _He probably has some sort of ulterior motive behind all of this. Being at Black Mesa's told me that everything and anything can happen for reasons I may not know. So just why are you doing this, Oz?"_

Whatever the reason was, or may have been, Ozpin was coming to watch them fight. And the question remained:

Just why was Ozpin getting involved in something so trivial to his duties?

* * *

The class remained ever so quiet under the presence of both Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch. Aside from the tense air around them all, Ozpin was taking his time to analyse the two attacking sides of this fight.

Team RWBY would be quite the formidable team, if they learnt to work together and help overcome each other's weaknesses. The young leader, Ruby Rose, was quick on her feet, but her own style was a haphazard one that focused more on using her scythe to quickly slash away any opposition, effective against mindless creatures like the Grimm, but easily exploitable if she fought a trained Huntsman or Huntress.

Then came her sister, Yang Xiao Long. Quite sturdy in both build and power, her hits, from what he had heard from her father, were like a sledgehammer colliding with brick. Such power had its drawback, it relied on kinetic absorption to power her Semblance, and her fighting style had its own holes, relying on brute force rather than the usual hitting and dodging used by many boxers.

Weiss Schnee was perhaps the second-best in terms of fighting style. She utilised her glyphs and the different types of Dust quite effectively, and she had an admirable amount of skill, which was sadly off put by her immense sense of pride, often underestimating those she fought and taking any chance at a quick victory. Quite the ego she had.

And the most mysterious of them all, Blake Belladonna. Ozpin didn't prefer to choose favourites, but she had the most stable fighting style out of the four, using her light figure and weapon to outmanoeuvre and strike her opponents unexpectedly. Her Semblance allowed her to make shadow clones of herself, capable to deceiving many foes. Despite such, she made herself known as a lone wolf, often fighting the enemy herself and believing she could grasp the situation.

Ozpin's eyes then turned to Adrian Shephard. A man from another world entirely, and only a Colonel when he was sent on his first mission into the depths of Black Mesa. For such a lowly soldier in military ranking, his experiences surviving inside that damned facility did change him for the better.

His own wits and reflex that were forced to evolve would bring him an advantage. He was a hard counter to Yang, considering she preferred a more personal style that was not effective at long range. Ruby was much the same, her scythe skills impeccable, but fighting style shaky and her aim below average through the scope.

Both Weiss and Blake would be the toughest for him to fight against overall, their fighting styles at an average level and capable of standing their ground for a moderate amount of time. But they could still be beaten, if Adrian played his cards right.

So, while Team RWBY stood posed and ready for combat, Adrian simply holstered the M4 Assault Rifle that was chambered with Dust rounds and flicked the safety off. Ozpin could spy a few Satchel Charges in those pouches and his combat knife sheathed. The grenades for his M4's attachment sat steadily on their own pouches and the Displacer Cannon sat closely behind the arena's outline. He had come equipped, that's for sure.

"Now that you both are ready, I will discuss the outlines of this fight." Goodwitch informed before she started. "To make this fair, Adrian, you may either put the team's Auras on zero, or eliminate Ruby Rose from the match, earning you the victory. As for Team RWBY, once Adrian is sent out of the arena, you will obtain the victory. Have I made myself clear?"

Both sides nodded their heads, although Adrian added a cheeky salute as well.

"Good, then get ready in three…"

The girls readied their weapons, staring intensely in an air of confidence in their complete glory once they beat Adrian into the ground. The tint of his lenses hides any form of thought, with only a man who had gone through Hell and out the other end in one day on the outside.

"Two…"

The class sat silently, some whispered among themselves betting on who would win and were silenced with haste by the Headmistress' authority over them. So, with quiet breaths and starry eyes, they sat, waiting for the fight to commence.

"One…"

Headmaster Ozpin stood, an outlier amongst the younger crowd. He wanted a side to attain total victory, one over the other. Would the young Rose manage to lead her team proficiently? Or would Adrian cement himself as the one-man army, letting his experience speak through his actions?

"Begin!"

Almost instantaneously, Weiss and Blake shot off into Adrian's direction, determined to end their brawl quickly while Yang struggled to catch up and Ruby stood there, nervous of the sudden action that was being taken, without her order nonetheless!

Adrian didn't draw his M4 to fire, instead choosing to burrow into his pockets for a grenade, pulling the pin and throwing it, seemingly missing the three charging towards him before they turned their heads to see it flying straight towards Ruby Rose, who had recovered from her state before realising a grenade was going right for her and using her Semblance to dash out of the way before the grenade exploded far from where she was.

Seeing it transpire, Blake grabbed Yang's arm before she could deliver a pummelling and dragged her back towards Ruby, firing with Gambol Shroud in hand as Weiss followed, using Myrtenaster to create a large ice barrier for the team to hide behind, Yang providing cover with her explosive shells as Adrian was forced to evade the explosions.

When the barrier was finished, Blake sighed before switching her weapon to its katana form. "It's no use, we have to stick close to each other if we want to win this."

"Wouldn't that just make it easier for him?!" Weiss answered incredulously.

"Nope!" Ruby chirped, out of her stupor and into her battle state. "He's going to be targeting me if I'm out in the open. So, I'm thinking we need to overwhelm him with our numbers. He can't focus on all of us at once, so we all have to attack simultaneously if we want to win this!"

Yang just stood there flabbergasted. Blake's face hadn't made a movement and Weiss simply looked at her with surprise. "It seems that constant studying of yours paid off after all." Weiss said.

"I mean- "

Suddenly a hole was blown through the ice barrier, causing it to fracture and break into pieces as it collapsed, revealing Adrian standing in the smoke and fog the explosion had created, holding his M4 with one hand, finger tapping the trigger with his lenses piercing through the cold air. Like a solider in those apocalyptic movies Ruby had watched, he slowly started to close the distance towards them

 **SOMETHING MEMORABLE  
\- Kn1ght, FURI OST**

"Enough talk team! Let's do this!" Ruby ordered confidently as Adrian got closer.

They all charged him at once, Adrian whipping out a Satchel Charge before throwing it straight towards them. All of them recognized it as the explosive he could trigger remotely and attempted to dodge the charge, but Ruby's order intervened.

"Yang! Take the explosive for us!"

Yang understood immediately and used Ember Cecilia to propel herself towards the charge, Adrian triggering it immediately as soon as Yang was close enough to it, blowing up into a ball of flame as she was sent flying back from the explosion, flipping through the air before rolling on the floor and began to recover as the other three charged onwards through the smoke like cheesy action heroes.

' _What the-!'_ Adrian was taken back by Ruby's course of action. _'What the hell was that all about?'_

' _Smart.'_ Ozpin simply complimented mentally as he saw it happen. _'Using your sister's Semblance and high Aura count to take the explosive, keeping their Aura in the green while letting Yang absorb the kinetic force.'_

Adrian had to keep them as far away as possible, and so he fired as much bullets as he could spare, laying down fire as the girls were forced to dodge the bullets whizzing towards them.

"Weiss, glyph! Blake, get closer to Adrian!" Weiss followed and summoned a glyph

Both immediately followed up on her commands, as Weiss summoned a trail of speed glyphs for Blake to follow. As she ran to get up close to Adrian, he responded by firing more rounds from his M4 to try and hit them. Blake was fast however, being able to dodge and weave her way towards him as she switched Gambol Shroud to its melee form.

Seeing her come closer with her katana in hand, he threw his gun on his back and pulled out his knife in order to enter a melee fight with her. As Blake and him got at arm's distance of each other, Adrian flipped and swung his knife down, but was too slow as Blake easily used her Semblance to dodge to the side while her shadow clone tricked him into attacking and slammed the hilt of her katana into his hip.

Adrian stumbled from the hit and reacted with a slash with his knife. Blake dodged that too and spun herself into the air and right behind him to deliver a harsh kick on the back. Adrian fell onto his knees but was able to get up fast enough to send a quick, hard punch to the side of Blake's face, also sending her onto the ground.

He decided to concuss her further, grabbing her by the head and slamming it onto his bent knee, giving him some time to get back up while Blake recovered from the hit. He barely managed to roll away from Weiss attempting to impale him, deciding to run to his magnum opus of weapons to finish this fight.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT!" Adrian cursed in his head as he tried to duck and weave from Team RWBY's bullets but failed miserably, feeling his PCV's energy running dry from all the hits.

"He's trying to go for his giant, cannon thingy!" Ruby shouted as loudly as she could.

Team RWBY had clearly seen the weapon in action, dropping Grimm immediately and sending their corpses somewhere yonder before they could even begin disintegrating. By the time Weiss summoned another trail of speed glyphs, Adrian already had the weapon in his hands, and decided to do something none of the girls were ready for.

He started to **charge** towards them.

Weiss, Ruby and Yang were simply shocked to see such a ballsy move occur, but Blake was clearly unfazed and ran on the speed glyphs to stop whatever plan Adrian had in mind.

With a determination in her eyes, like none other, Blake reverted Gambol Shroud to its katana form and made one final strike to destroy Adrian's PCV energy and win the match.

That never happened though.

She swore her katana made contact with him. Yet her eyes were suddenly enveloped in a world of green, orange and yellow. She felt Gambol Shroud now cut through air as she slid to a halt and looked behind her, only to see the last of the strange, electric residue die out and Adrian gone where he had originally stood.

This is a moment that truly fazed Blake and caused her team to only sink into their confusion more. The whole class was bursting with whispers, curious and worried to where the soldier had gone.

"Did it malfunction?", "Where is he right now?", "What just happened?" These questions continued to spread among the class, never-ending.

The W, B and Y of the team slowly paced forward to the spot where Adrian was last standing on, the surface singed. "It's like… he blew up or something…" Yang managed to mutter.

Meanwhile Ruby just stood there, utterly confused on what just happened. Too shocked to even think at the moment as someone she hoped to be friends with was just, gone, without any last words or final goodbyes. An opportunity wasted, if only she had gotten over her issues about him earlier.

"Blake… What did you do…?" She squeaked.

"Ruby, I-

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Ruby immediately flashed towards Blake and grabbed her by the front of her collar, shaking her as tears rolled down her cheeks, unable to cope with the fact that she had just watched someone possibly _die_ in front of her.

"Ruby, calm down!" Yang grabbed her sister by the shoulder with Weiss assisting her. Blake was desperately attempting to recount what had happened and was reassuring that nothing bad had happened.

The only ones who weren't feeling any sort of confusion was both Ozpin and Goodwitch. Both were staring at the slowly mourning Rose, and both knew exactly where Adrian had gone to, or rather, teleported to.

* * *

 **[*A brief respite in Xen…*]**

A portal suddenly opened in a flash of warm colours and out came Adrian with a slash on his vest, rolling onto the ground in a mess as the portal flashed out of existence. He took a moment to recover, shaking his head before getting back up on his feet to see the familiar border world of Xen.

He took a moment to take in his surroundings, slowly reliving his past memories during the Black Mesa Incident…

" _This is one hell of a place…"_

" _Can we get out of here now? Shit's creeping me out."_

" _Look at the flora of this place! It's like were in a movie!"_

" _We've been studying the flora for quite some time now…"_

" _We can talk about this, after, we get out of Black Mesa."_

"After we get out of Black Mesa, huh…?" Adrian sighed reciting that, deciding to shake the feelings off for now and scanned the place for the exit portal, which was in a shallow cave far from him.

So, he jumped, platform after platform. Noticing the lack of fauna in Xen at the moment, it was like a ghost town. No cries from Houndeyes or the chirps from a stray Headcrab. There was nothing at all, just him.

It began to discomfort him, so he rushed into the exit portal quickly.

Adrian wasn't there to see a strange landing vessel touch down onto the surface of Xen, and a humanoid figure clad in bulky padded armour and a gas mask helmet emerged from it and went towards where he had disappeared. It's two, blue glowing eyes scanned for any abnormities, finding nothing incriminating before radioing its comrades to relay what had transpired.

* * *

While Ruby was being hugged by her older sister, the atmosphere of the situation was broken when a sudden buzzing emanated from the air before the same green, orange and yellow flash blinded the class momentarily. What seemed to be a portal presented itself and shot Adrian out of it, Displacer Cannon in his hands.

The adrenaline was pumping as he knew he was about to win this, seeing the faint blurs of Yang and Ruby. He dropped the cannon immediately and went for his knife, drawing it from the sheath and pulling her away from Yang before wrapping his arm around Ruby's eyes and aiming the knife to her throat. He could chip away her Aura for sure. Yang didn't think to fight back as her little sister was pulled away from her, too shocked to react.

"Banzai, girls!" Adrian triumphantly declared with the knife still aimed to Ruby's neck "Didn't see that coming, did- "

He stopped gloating when he heard sniffles, slowly loosening his arm around her eyes to find it wet with tears. Ruby Rose seemed out-of-the-moment, staring blankly at the roof. Her brain was comprehending the series of events, from losing a potential friend to them suddenly coming back like nothing had happened. She was still a young girl, and she only wished to reconcile her mixed feelings for him. So, for it to come and go, and come once again, it was hard to process.

Adrian stood there stoically for a moment, before sighing and loosening his body. He put the knife back into its sheath and simply patted Ruby on the head once, which seemed to elicit a reaction from her he didn't see as he marched out of the classroom, silently.

Her eyes widened once she felt Adrian's hand patting her hair and turned to face him as he walked out of the classroom. She could only look down at the ground, ashamed.

* * *

 ***Cafeteria, Beacon Academy***

Adrian had to sit on the couch of his home, thinking, before he decided to move his legs to the cafeteria. He opened the doors and made his way to where Team RBY would usually sit. Those outside the class before noticed him but didn't stare. The ones who were in the class did though.

He ignored them and hastened the speed, marching seemingly threateningly to where Team RWBY was, all talking while Ruby sat there staring at the table. They all saw him speed-walking to the table before stopping. He stood for a while to watch their reactions, all generally suspicious before sitting down.

"I'm sorry." Ruby immediately apologised after he sat down.

"Would've expected a wait before that." Adrian mused. "But why apologize?"

"Because I was being a baby, I overreacted and, cried in front of everyone." She dejectedly said. "And I made you sad when you didn't need to. We were having fun until I decided to be dumb. I just, get emotional over a lot of things…"

"No one's having fun unless we all are." Adrian stated matter-of-factly. "And look, I get why me just, disappearing and reappearing like nothing happened would get you to be like that, so don't apologize, kid. From what Blake told me, you saw her slash at my vest, and you thought that had caused it to malfunction and kill me."

"And besides," He had in his hands, a small bag of cookies and placed them on the table. "Thought you might enjoy these. Don't really like cookies."

Ruby noticed the bag land on the table and slowly but eagerly put her hands on it, before dragging it towards her and opening the bag, taking a cookie and biting on it with a serene face. "You don't enjoy cookies?"

"We can talk about later, sis." Yang stopped her and glared at Adrian. "You've got a lot of explaining to do."

Adrian nodded and put his hands on the table. "Any questions?"

"How did you disappear like that?" Weiss asked. "That cannon, you used that to disappear. Only Semblances could replicate the same effect."

Adrian decided to admit some of the truth, not all of it, but enough to satiate their concerns. "Well, the big-wigs at HECU were running… top-secret weapons testing for the Atlas military. That thing I just used, was designed by a partner company that went bankrupt, called Black Mesa, as a pet project from a few scientists trying to incorporate Semblance into weapons. I can use a button on the side of it to activate a function that, _teleports_ me to a random place using portals. They gave it to me for live testing just before the incident and the bankruptcy, so Atlas decided I could keep it."

"Why you specifically?" Weiss questioned further.

"Well…" Adrian struggled to find an answer. "Well, I signed up for it. Contract's still up for a few more years so I get to keep it before it becomes Atlas property."

"Are we just going to ignore the fact that he just teleported earlier?" Yang asked.

"And like, where to?" Ruby titled her head in curiosity, although with a little less energy.

"Va… cuo." Adrian dragged the answer out. "A desert, one big desert."

"A little taste of home, huh?" Yang chirped. He nodded in response. "Well, this is new."

"Why doesn't anyone _know_ , about this?" Blake spoke for the first time since he came.

"Well Black Mesa wanted pin-point accurate teleportation, not random. I don't think it'd work as a commercial thing considering that."

Blake only accepted the answer with a few short nods before going silent. Ruby suddenly flailed her arms about to get everyone's attention. "Adrian, why don't you like cookies?"

"Too sweet sometimes." He bluntly answered, before rising from his seat. "Well I came here to apologise, and I did that. So, I'll be going." Before he went, he pointed a finger at Ruby. "And we're meeting at the armoury during nightfall."

Ruby nodded, more eager than ever to spend some time with him. The team watched him walk away before all eyes were on Ruby.

"So, what's this armoury business all about?" Yang nudged her sister's shoulder with a smug grin.

It seemed Ruby also had a lot of explaining to do.

* * *

 ***Armoury, Beacon Academy***

Despite the shivering cold of the night, Ruby was awaiting Adrian's presence outside the armoury, still alive for the time being and mostly focusing on the noise inside as the workers went to pack everything up for the night. She wore a black and red tank top with her emblem imprinted on the front and a yellow jacket after Yang jokingly worried that Ruby "would freeze out there like a strawberry popsicle". Her sweatpants adorned a similar theme, with red outlines running down.

She soon could see Adrian come from the light fog, dragging quite a large crate with him as he heaved to hurry himself up. He was still wearing the same HECU uniform as always which made her wonder if he had wardrobes upon wardrobes of the same clothes.

"Adrian!" Ruby ran up to him to greet him, seeing him struggle to pull the large crate with him. "Do you need help with that?"

"Sure, kid. Dragging a crate full of weapons certainly wasn't part of my boot camp's regime." Adrian said, letting go to take in some air after pulling it for so long.

Ruby went to grabbing the handle on the side of the crate and pulled it, only to find it extremely difficult to even move it an inch towards her. "Gah… really, heavy!" She reacted.

"You carry a god damn sniper scythe that weighs at least nearly close to this! How is it 'heavy' to you?!" Adrian incredulously told her.

No answer. Her face had gone completely blank. She then seamlessly resumed heaving, continuing to struggle. It somewhat scared Adrian that it happened.

"Alright, we'll drag it together. You pull, I push." She nodded to Adrian's proposal as he placed both hands on the other side of the crate. "Alright! Three, two- "

Both were interrupted by a worker casually exiting from the armoury to see a grown man trying to _push_ something without wheels and a student with a ridiculous fashion sense, both attempting to move a large crate. He looked at Ruby, then Adrian with a curious yet questioning look.

"Do you two need help with that?" She asked.

"Yes." Both answered as they collapsed. The worker simply shrugged and went back inside to seek help for these two, _poor_ souls.

* * *

 **[*A few, gruelling moments later...*]**

"Thank you!" Ruby innocently thanked the workers who had helped get the crate onto a wheel trolley. They simply waved it off and smiled as they left for the night. She took off the jacket, tied the arms to her waist and strolled over to the work bench.

"Well, now that we're here we can start doing our thing." Adrian said, putting the keys to the doors into his pockets. Earlier they had elaborated on why them came so late and one of the workers lent them the key to lock the doors once they were done. They were also kind enough to put the tools they needed onto the work bench, all neatly aligned in their places.

"Right, I haven't told you yet." Adrian nodded to her response. "Well I was wondering, if you'd allow me to make a weapon for you?"

"Seriously kid? You don't have to. I'm fine as is." Adrian said, unloading the contents of the crate onto a sturdy table.

"Well all your weapons are like, old. You need something reliable at least." Ruby said, taking the tools she needed and placing them neatly to her side. "I'll just disassemble your Desert Eagle and see what I can do from there. Also, I want to take a peek at your helmet and gas mask."

"Sure, sure." Replied Adrian as he took a Desert Eagle, unloading it and flipping the safety on before throwing it to the eager Rose. He also removed his helmet and gas mask to reveal his face and threw them to her as well.

"I'll put on some music for us, kid." Adrian spoke as he went for the Walkman he stashed into one of his pouches.

"My dad always said silence was the best kind of music." Ruby quoted.

"Then he doesn't know what good music is then." Adrian replied. Both chuckled a fair bit before Adrian chose a song on the Walkman and played it.

 _ **AGAINST THE NINJA  
\- DRAGON SOUND, MIAMI CONNECTIONS OST**_

"Is this a Vacuo band too?" Ruby asked as she began to slowly take the Desert Eagle apart.

"Yeah, not a big one, but yeah."

Both went silent, not being able to start a conversation as the awkward tension started to become an issue. Both Ruby and Adrian were beginning to get fidgety and tried to find something to focus on. When Adrian took a hold on one of his weapons and examined it, an idea came to mind.

"So, what's the idea so far?" Adrian asked the girl.

"Well, you use that pipe wrench a lot, I've heard."

"Well yeah. It's sort of like my personal Excalibur."

"Excalibur? Is that another thing about your town?"

"Yeah, sword in stone. Worthy one pulls it out and becomes a good king."

"Well, I'll do my best to make sure you're worthy of this weapon." Ruby smiled in pure innocence. Adrian couldn't help but feel his heart melt from such honesty.

"So, it's a pipe wrench and Desert Eagle thing?" He asked once again.

"That's the idea at least. I could make it work!" Ruby chirped.

"Well, I admit. That'd be convenient to have."

"And awesome!"

"Yeah, and awesome." Adrian lazily said with a grin.

Adrian considered sitting closer to her so she wouldn't feel as alone but rejected the idea. It would only mean the awkward intermissions in-between would be even worse with them close together.

"So uh, you build weapons like that?" Adrian said, starting another conversation.

"Well, nope! I'm not really an expert since I've only built one."

"Says the girl with the giant-ass sniper scythe."

Ruby blushed, embarrassed. "Well I based it off my Uncle Qrow's. She sort of helped me a little bit as well."

"He has a scythe too?"

"Well, one that turns into a big sword."

Adrian swore under his breath, disbelieved that Remnant even had things just as sharp weapons that turned into, _other_ sharp weapons. "Well should I be worried about the thing blowing up in my face?"

"Hey, have some confidence!" Ruby pouted at the somewhat mean comment.

"Says the girl who says she isn't an expert." Adrian smugly commented.

"You're just like Yang!"

Adrian inwardly laughed at his quips as Ruby continued to disassemble the Desert Eagle with a noticeable pout along with a blush. As she was done with that, she decided to take a small break by dismantling the less complex form of Adrian's gas mask and helmet.

Under the helmet was cushioning which she carefully took out, before noticing a USB attached to the roof with a folded note taped to it. She took it out and examined it, before turning to Adrian.

"Hey Adrian," She showed the USB and the note. "Did you notice this? It was under your helmet's cushioning."

Adrian held his hand out and let Ruby throw it to him, taking the note and unfolding it. He read the note carefully, each word only serving to hasten his heartbeat.

" _A factor that will prove most beneficial to your assignment, Mr. Shephard. My employers have sanctioned the delivery of this device to you, and further assistance on your task."_

 _\- A mutual benefactor_

"Who's it from?" Ruby asked.

"No one." Adrian shrugged it off in fear and scrunched up the paper, throwing it into a nearby bin before studying the USB. "Maybe we could use it somewhere. A computer?"

"Does a laptop work?" The girl asked. Adrian nodded and she used her Semblance to quickly exit the room, leaving a trail of rose petals that he watched fall, as he waited for whatever the girl had in mind.

Admittedly, it felt good to outsmart others.

* * *

"I'm back!" Ruby cheered as she came through the door, laptop in her arms.

Adrian couldn't avoid the obviously messy appearance she had undergone in the minutes she wasn't in the armoury. Her hair was blanketed with _actual_ dust and had become unkempt. She sneezed constantly as it fell from her hair.

"Does this always happen to you when you have ideas?" Adrian asked incredulously, sure with himself that borrowing a laptop didn't mean dirty appearances.

"Well, I had to sneak into the library and guess what? Ms. Goodwitch was out on patrol and I nearly got caught!" She moved her arms about and seemed to over-dramatize it. "I had to crawl under the tables for a bit."

"You could've just told Goodwitch I _needed_ a laptop. She would've let me borrow one. I'm pretty much part of Beacon's staff at this point." Adrian blankly stated.

Ruby seemed to have frozen at that comment, the embarrassment getting to her as her face now looked akin to a fresh tomato. She closed her eyes and strolled to the table, ashamed in a childish sense as she sat down. Slowly turning her head to him, he saw a desperate plea under her reddened face.

"Speak _nothing_ , about this." Ruby forced a smile as she said that.

"Well maybe you could speak about how you managed to sneak past Beacon's wrathful mistress?" Adrian quipped back.

That managed to get Ruby out of her flustered stupor, reluctantly deciding to humour him with her story of wit and speed. Both we're glad to at least be rid of the awkward tension as Ruby began to open the laptop, using her own school account as she plugged in the USB from the side. **  
**

 **[INITIALISING…]**

"What do you think it'll be?" Ruby wondered, staring blankly at the screen in thought.

"Anything I suppose." Adrian dismissed.

" **Welcome to the "Personal Storage Setup" officially authorised for publication by head scientist of the Teleportation Research Team, Dr. 'Otto Menzies'."**

"What's this about? Something to do with you?" With all the scientific technobabble that was flooding her mind, she could only link it back to Adrian since he had worked alongside a now defunct Atlesian organization that sounded similar to what she could hear.

"Stay quiet and let's keep watching." Adrian sternly told her. This was important for sure. Black Mesa most obviously, but what was it going to be about? Hopefully nothing too incriminating about Earth that would blow his cover. He couldn't delay this if _he_ had sent this to him.

" **A video will now play a summary…"**

"Greetings! I hope this USB is delivered to the intended audience, as it _is_ a Friday and I must prepare with my team to visit another Research and Development team on Saturday for their testing of a new crystal sample. So, I'll have to make things brief. What you're watching is a guide to a prototype I've been working on, which allows near infinite storage by utilising the _great_ findings Black Mesa has been studying recently. A soldier like yourself wouldn't understand so I'll spare you the details. This is meant to be sent to the HECU camp in Arizona so if you are not part of the camp, I implore you return Black Mesa property immediately unless you like the authorities knocking on your door. But I digress.

A few things to note: One, once whatever has been stored you must be wearing the gas mask and helmet most HECU personnel are given for it to work. Second, this is a prototype, so do _not_ blame me if it suddenly stops working. Three, I suggest you keep this USB with you, as I do not want it falling into unauthorised hands. And four, do not be afraid! Even if it is a prototype, it is functional! There's just a few more improvements I would like to make, and that would take a few days at least.

So that is the end of this message, if you have any questions, please do contact Black Mesa with government permission by calling the numbe- What? What do you mean the donuts are gone Frankli- My god, what are you doin- "

" **Setup will now commence."**

"That was… something!" Ruby managed to spill those words from her mouth. Black Mesa, infinite storage, a prototype! So much information yet she was occupied on the thought of donuts, an easier thought. She really should've gotten some strawberry donuts to eat while staying here for the night.

"Saturday…" Adrian murmured. To anyone else he would be in deep thought. For himself, he was only reintroduced to his regrets on that faithful Saturday. The Black Mesa Incident. The last time he'd see Earth, and the only reason he arrived here on Remnant. He'd experience so much that'd haunt him.

Ruby noticed the look on his face. His eyes sunken and grey, and a morose look on his face that barely twitched. His eyes didn't blink, and he continued to look at the floor in whatever emotion he was feeling at the time. It was depressing to simply look at. It did have her worried.

"You okay Adrian?"

"Oh, yeah I am. Let's focus."

" **Setup complete! This program will now restart…"**

 **[WELCOME TO BLACK MESA'S "INVENTORY MANAGER". PLEASE SCAN ITEM FOR IMMEDIATE STORAGE.]**

"What should we scan exactly?" Adrian murmured to himself in thought. Ruby had heard him and dashed to the crates, rummaging through its contents and throwing out whatever weapons seemed too "boring" or "simple" for her tastes, forcing Adrian to quickly catch each into his arms and place them on the table, although some did evade him entirely.

Ruby eyes seem to gleam particularly at a certain weapon, the only problem being her slender arms weren't capable of lifting it out of the crate. No matter how much she huffed and heaved, it was just too much work. With a final pull of all the strength she had, she managed to lift some of it out for Adrian to recognize her choice.

"How about the giant cannon thing?"

"That's… no, it's important. I can't lose that." Adrian reasoned, before being assaulted by a very cute sight that involved Ruby clamping her hands together and giving him puppy eyes. It did not faze him, however.

"And don't think about begging me with no puppy eyes bullshit, I'll drop your ass and give me twenty if you do."

Ruby shot her arms up in surrender and went to the pile of Adrian's weapons to quickly sift through a more replaceable option. She grabbed onto a red handle and lifted the weapon high up into the air.

"How about the pipe wrench then?" She announced.

"That's better." He nodded and she simply let Ruby do what she wanted. If something went wrong with the pipe wrench, he could simply buy another.

Like a giddy girl at a carnival, Ruby eagerly slammed the wrench flat onto the table and grabbed Adrian's gasmask, placing it behind the tool as pretty, neon green lights suddenly shot out of the eyeholes of the gasmask as soon as it sat idle on the table. Ruby squealed in delight, excited to see this prototype work right in front of her.

 **[SCANNING…]**

 **[SCAN COMPLETE. "Black Mesa Endorsed Pipe Wrench", OPENING STORAGE…]**

Suddenly, the same green, orange and yellow light that she had seen in her team's fight against Adrian was visible. Admittedly, she jolted from the slight traumatic stress the sight brought her after what had happened earlier in the day, yet those feelings completely washed away as the same light engulfed the wrench and made it disappear completely.

"Woah!" Was all Ruby could say.

"What the hell happened?!" He exclaimed as soon as he heard the familiar buzz. He quickly turned his seat around to find his pipe wrench completely gone. He was about to ask Ruby what he _hell_ she had done when the program did that for him instead.

 **[STORAGE COMPLETE. ITEM HAS BEEN ADDED TO INVENTORY!]**

'Inventory'. _Inventory…_ Why did those words resonate with Ruby so much? She scoured her mind for a reason and found it immediately. All the first-person shooters she had played during her years at Signal Academy. They all came back to her. And she soon made the necessary connections.

"Heads-up display!" She blurted out, which confused Adrian. "Try and put your helmet and mask on!"

Adrian did just that and looking through the gasmask, nothing seemed to have changed. He simply sighed. "What now kid?"

Ruby was still enthusiastic and told him what to do. "Try and say: "Give me the pipe wrench!""

Adrian held out his hands and unenthusiastically repeated the words, expecting nothing to happen. To say he was surprised when the pipe wrench teleported back into reality and dropped onto his hands was an understatement of the highest calibre.

"Holy…"

"Now put it back saying: Put the wrench into my inventory!""

With a lot more bravado, he repeated her words and the pipe wrench teleported out of his hands. Ruby squealed like a girl appropriate of her age and jumped on the spot.

"Now try saying it with your brain!"

Adrian did as he was told and told himself to summon the pipe wrench. It worked without any errors. Same with putting it back into his inventory. What he had was truly an infinite inventory that seemingly responded to his thoughts.

"That's AWESOME!"

She suddenly found herself in front of Adrian as he grabbed her by the arms and started the jovially laugh. He knew exactly what had happened. Ruby and in extension, the G-Man had found hidden software that could teleport his weapons in and out of Zen. Was it convenient? Of course, it was!

"Ruby, you are a god damn genius!"

"Aww, you're making me blush. I only _found_ it after all."

The rest of the night they would spend happily scanning every weapon Adrian had. If one were to focus hard enough, they could hear the sounds of a man and a young girl cheering and laughing amongst each other and strange buzzing and lights coming from the armoury.

Of course, that spectacle was reserved for the two participants anyway.


End file.
